Stephanie's New Deal
by PsychGrl
Summary: Steph makes a mistake & then has to make it up to Ranger without ruining all the relationships around her. Babe story.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic, so please be kind._

_Stephanie's New Deal_

The tires of my Mini were smoking as I navigated the turn into the driveway of Joe Morelli's house. I slammed the transmission into park, whipped the key out of the ignition and tumbled out of the door in my dash to get to the house. My hands were fumbling and shaking as I tried to put the key into the lock. I couldn't seem to get it inside, but then finally it was and the lock was clicking open and I was safe at last inside his house.

I slammed the door closed and turned the deadbolt, put on the chain, and stood with my back braced against it. I knew that none of this would make any little difference if my pursuer decided to come after me, but for the time being I was taking comfort in those little gestures.

For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why I had chosen to come here of all places. Yes, Joe and I were dating, but under the circumstances, it seemed like the dumbest place I could possibly have decided to hide out at. But it was safe. I knew it was safe. Especially under the circumstances. Under the circumstances, it might be the only place I was safe.

As I stood there, my heart finally started to slow in my chest and my breath started to come a little easier. I knew the fact that both took so long to calm down were signs that I needed to get more exercise, but under these circumstances, that was the last thing I wanted to think about.

My cell phone rang shrilly in the otherwise silent room and I jumped. My hand flew to my chest, my heart once again pounding. My hand was shaking as I pulled the phone out of my purse and I wasn't sure I wanted to look at the screen to verify who was calling. Sure, there was a chance that it was just my mother calling to ask me when I was getting married or Connie calling to ask when I was coming to the office or Eddie calling to ask me to babysit. But somehow I knew better. Somehow, I knew that the person on the other end of that line was the very person I was looking to avoid.

I closed my eyes as I flipped the phone open and said a very quiet, "Hello?"

"Babe," was the only thing I heard on the other end. As usual, it still managed to say volumes and I found myself gulping and fighting the urge to let my legs buckle beneath me.

"Nice choice for a place to hide out," Ranger said. "You going to come out anytime soon so we can talk?"

I peeked through the little window in Joe's door and had my worst fears confirmed. Ranger's truck was parked out in front of the house. He was apparently a much better driver when he was feeling emotional than I was because his truck was lined up nicely at the curb whereas my car was parked at an awkward angle in the driveway that told the story of how I had jumped the curb in my rush to get there.

"Um, no," I said. He had asked, right? And it would be rude not to answer altogether.

"Babe," was the only response I got.

"I don't suppose it would be enough if I just said sorry?"

"Stephanie, you brought a bomb into my garage."

"I didn't know it was a bomb at the time. And I thought you'd be proud of me for getting it checked out before opening it. And it was a little bomb. Tiny, really."

"It exploded in my garage."

"I know. I'm really sorry about tripping and letting it fly out of my hands like that."

"It landed in my new Lamborghini and started it on fire."

My voice was really small when I responded to that one. "It's a good thing it was a really little bomb, huh?"

I could practically hear him take a breath. I couldn't tell if he was fighting not to scream or not to smile. One would be really good. The other would probably end with me being sent off to one of the third world countries he had formerly liberated. He was probably in tight with the government of a bunch of them for just that purpose.

"I just got the car today."

"Yeah, I knew I'd never seen it before." I tried to turn the conversation around on him. "I'm surprised you would bring such an expensive car to a building you've given me access to. You know my track record with your cars."

"I brought it there so I could show it to you. You've always been okay with my cars as long as I'm in them with you. I was going to invite you to go for a drive with me."

I sucked in a breath as I drifted off, thinking about what the term "drive" could entail, and heard a shift in his tone of voice.

"Come outside and talk to me, Babe."

I peeked through the window again. He was still sitting in the front seat of his truck and he didn't look like he was assembling an arsenal of large weapons, so I took that as a good sign.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Before he could answer, I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around to find Joe coming down his stairs. In one hand he had a towel that he was using to scrub his hair dry with. He was shirtless and wearing only loose jeans that looked really good.

"Cupcake? What are you doing here? I wasn't expecting you."

On the phone I heard Ranger say, "Babe?"

I gave Joe the sign for "one minute" and said to Ranger, "Um, Joe's here now. Do you think we can talk later?"

I swear I heard him sigh. "Sure Babe. Call me."

He disconnected and I watched through the little window as he put the truck in gear and pulled away down the street.

"Was that Manoso?" Joe wanted to know when I turned around to face him again.

"Yeah. There was a slight mishap at his office and he wanted to make sure I was all right." It was almost the truth, so I didn't feel bad about keeping the rest of the story from Joe.

"Are you working tonight?" I asked him, trying to change the subject to more neutral ground.

He walked into the kitchen, threw the towel down on to a chair, and opened up the fridge, which he started rifling through. "Yeah, we've got a bust set up for later tonight so I came home to grab something to eat and get changed." He looked at me over the top of the door. "Unfortunately, as much as the boys miss you, I don't have time for us to do anything about it," he said with a lewd grin.

I realized that he was right. The only time I ever came over to his house was for us to have sex, or for me to hide out. I didn't think that our conversation would be improved by my sharing this observation or telling him that I was here for the latter instead of the former, so I just smiled and let his assumption go.

"That's okay. I just wanted to check in and say hi, so I'll get out of your hair."

He came around the door to grab me, pushing me up against the kitchen wall with his kiss. He had one hand on my ass and the other sliding up the back of my shirt. I kissed him back, but I don't think it contained the same passion given that I was distracted while trying to figure out how I was going to avoid Ranger for the next while. Say, the next five years.

Joe pulled out of the kiss, breathing a lot harder than he had been going into it. I was a little shocked to find that I wasn't nearly as affected by it. I very wisely decided not to mention this either.

With the kiss ended and no hope of getting more than just the kiss just then, Joe went back to his fridge and started rifling through it for food once again. "I'll see you later, Cupcake," he said, his head still inside the appliance.

I squelched down the flash of annoyance I got from his lack of caring and grabbed my purse from where it had fallen on the floor by the door. A place it had fallen because I'd jumped so much from my cell phone going off. I really needed to find a way to relax. One that apparently wouldn't include Joe just then.

I checked both ways before leaving the safety of Joe's house but didn't see any black vehicles parked up or down the street in either direction so I ran to my Mini and locked myself in before starting it up. Ranger had said he would talk to me later, so I decided to get back to my apartment, get changed out of my dirty clothes – I had finally noticed the gravel stains on my knees and elbows from where I'd connected with the ground of the garage while diving to avoid the bomb blast. Joe hadn't even commented on the dirt. Or maybe he had but he considered it to be an everyday occurrence for me and unworthy of observation.

I drove to my apartment, planning my evening as I went. I thought about trying to mooch dinner from my parents. And maybe I should pack up an overnight bag in case Ranger decided to break in in the middle of the night to have me shipped off to that third world country. I thought that it couldn't hurt to be prepared.

My parking lot was filled with the usual vehicles in it, not a black truck or SUV in sight. Although, as usual, it was _literally_ filled so that meant I ended up forced to park next to the dumpster, also as usual. I locked up the car and made my way into the building, thinking my luck had changed for the better for once as the elevator doors binged open as soon as I got there and I didn't have to wait for it to makes its usual slow progression down from the other floors.

My floor was deserted when I got to it and my door appeared to be closed up tight, so I decided that my luck was in fact improving. I let myself into the apartment and had to stifle a scream when I turned to close it and found it was slammed shut in front of me and felt a hot body plaster itself up against my back.

"You trying to avoid me, Babe?" Ranger breathed into my ear.

He pressed me up against the wall, his front to my back, and his weight holding me prisoner where I stood. I fought down the wave of desire that the gesture ignited in me and tried to come up with something intelligent to say.

"N-no."

Okay, that wasn't all that intelligent. But his body was distracting me and making it impossible to think.

I managed to get my arms up by my shoulders and I tried to push myself away from the wall. Ranger leaned more heavily into me and trapped my hands against the wall with his own. He slid our joined hands up the wall until they were stretched above my head and the position was making me feel as hot as the he felt up against me. I felt my breath hitch with desire as I fought not to press myself back against him.

"Don't lie to me, Babe. You trying to avoid me?"

"Do I need to avoid you?" I breathed.

He trapped both my hands with one of his and let the other hand slide down the side of my body until it reached my stomach, where it slipped around and splayed, open fingers, against the material there, and was used to pull me back even more tightly against him. My eyes closed and I bit my bottom lip so I wouldn't moan.

"You never need to avoid me. But you do have to talk to me."

With that, he pulled his body back from mine and stepped away to go sit in one of the chairs in my living room. My knees were still weak and it took me a moment to find the strength to push away from the wall to go follow.

I flopped down on to the couch and looked at him expectantly.

"So?" I finally said when I thought I could speak without my voice shaking or a river of drool escaping my mouth. "What do we need to talk about?"

"You blew up my new Lamborghini," he said.

"We've been over this. I'm really sorry about it, but it honestly was an accid–"

He cut me off by leaning forward in his chair. His legs were spread open and he put one elbow on each knee. "My new, _uninsured_ as of yet, Lamborghini."

My eyes closed as I realized the meaning of that statement and I'm pretty sure that I swore out loud.

I forced my eyes open to look at him again. "Ranger, I am _so_ sorry. I don't know how, but I'm going to pay you back."

He leaned back in his chair again, the picture of calm control. "I know," he said. "That's why I'm here."

I looked at him with what must have been a very blank look because I wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"I'm here to discuss the terms of our new deal," he said.

"Our..." I stopped as the importance of the phrase hit me. "Our new deal?"

I didn't like the smile that crossed his face just then. It was catlike and extremely satisfied. "Yes, our new deal. The one in which I let you work off the cost of that car."

I sucked in a deep breath. "What about there not being a price between us?" I wanted to know.

Before I could blink he was out of his chair and leaning over me where I sat on the couch.

"The rules have changed, Babe. You have something I want, and things are normally balanced between us so I don't pursue it. But now you owe me again. And I'm going to collect." He leaned down and touched his lips to mine. Despite the similarities in the passionate embrace I'd experienced by the front door, the kiss was nothing like the one I'd experienced with Joe in his kitchen earlier that day. This was a coaxing kiss. One that asked permission and consent. It belied what his words had said and told me that even if he was coming to me under the pretense of me owing him, that I still had a choice here. It also told me that if anything happened, it would be because we both agreed to it.

Now the only question was if I agreed.

_This is my first try at fanfic. Please let me know what you thought, I'm open to constructive criticism. Also let me know if it's worth continuing._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic, so please be kind._

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 2_

I racked my brain for a moment and realized I needed to stall. I opened my mouth and allowed the first question that came to mind to spill from it. "What happened to nothing non-consensual?"

Ranger leaned closer to me and I felt his lips caress the shell of my ear. "How can it be non-consensual when you don't even know what I'm going to ask, Babe?"

I sucked in a breath between my teeth and my mind jumped to the fact that my grandma Mazur did that all the time, too. Well, even with Ranger sitting so close to me that I could feel the heat rising from his body, that just killed the mood.

I pushed him by his shoulders, moving him far enough back that I had space so I could slide down the couch if he came at me with those killer lips again. Ranger is a very sexy man and he knew how to turn me on. I wasn't going to chance him deciding to use those facts against me in order to get what he wanted.

_Unless it was what we both wanted,_ I thought to myself. Which was probably for us to be naked and wrapped around each other, our mouths ...

_Oh my god,_ I thought to myself again, _think about something else or you're going to have him handcuffed to your shower curtain rod while you have your way with him._

Not that that would necessarily be a bad thing. Assuming I could even find my handcuffs in the mess that was my apartment.

I guess my eyes must have glazed over around then because Ranger leaned his face down into mine. He had a small smile on his face and he looked me directly in the eyes. "I need your attention for a moment, Babe."

_His loss, _I thought to myself. "So, let me get this straight. You say I owe you and I have to make it up to you and you want me, but it's not sex?"

His smile widened to his wolf smile. "We can add that to the method of repayment if it'll make you feel better," he said.

I think my eyes glazed over again as I thought about the different ways it could make both of us feel better. I may have run my tongue along my top lip, too. I heard Ranger groan my name and then he was leaning down toward me, his hands resting on the back of the couch on either side of my shoulders, and his lips close enough to mine to kiss.

I jarred myself awake and wrenched myself sideways down the couch to put some distance between us. If I was ever going to get the whole story out of him, I couldn't be within touching distance. I couldn't speak for him, but I knew damn well that I didn't have the self control for us to be that close. And at this rate it would be next Christmas before I found out what he was referring to. Given what we could be doing in all that time, I wasn't sure why I was objecting, but a girl's got to have priorities and my need to satisfy my nosiness always seemed to come out on top.

"So what's the story?" I asked, trying hard not to look at him for fear of imagining all those things we could be doing instead of just talking.

The smile that had been on his face when he saw my need to distance myself from him in order to think dimmed just slightly as he spoke. "I've got to admit, although I'm sorry to see that car go so quickly, I can't help but be thankful that it's put you into my debt."

He looked out the window over the couch for a moment and then back at me, a smile curving up one corner of his lips. "I didn't even get to drive it. The dealership had it delivered just this morning."  
Another shot to the heart of guilt. I started to open my mouth to apologize yet again, but he didn't allow me the chance before starting to speak again.

"I need you to act like we're getting married and attend some meetings with me over the next month."

My jaw hit the floor as my heart raced. "Pardon?" It was like we'd just switched languages, and it wasn't one that I spoke.

"There is a company that is based in New York that I want to supply the security for. Rangeman tried to get the contract three years ago, but they turned me down at the time. The contract has come up again and I want it."

"What does that have to do with me?" I wanted to know.

Ranger looked out the window again. I had the feeling he was thinking heavily, although there was no smell of smoke like he always accused me of when I was doing the same. His eyes were locked in the distance and his expression was conflicted. I didn't know what he was seeing, but I got the feeling he was debating how much to tell me.

"The last time we were negotiating with this company they did extensive background searches on all of the men in my company, including me. They said that as the owner of the company, my personal life was used as an indication of the stability of the company. They said they believed it to be suggestive of my ability to balance things and they were looking for someone who managed to balance things well."

I guessed that I could see that. "So where do I come in?"

"I need you to act like you're my fiancé. We've known each other long enough that it could be believable. And I need it to be believable because there's a good chance that they will be doing an in-depth investigation again."

"How in-depth are we talking here?"

He finally turned his attention away from the window and looked directly into my eyes. "We're going to have to make them believe that we're in love. They'll probably investigate you, too, so we need to cover all the bases. You're going to have to tell your family that we're engaged, and make them believe it."

I felt my eyes widen. "Why can't I just tell them that it's a cover?"

"You know how people are, Babe. They like to talk. And once this gets out, the entire 'Burg is going to be talking about it. If your family isn't reacting how they'd normally react to news like this, then it's going to make people suspicious and those suspicions will get back to McNamara."

"Is that the company?"

"Yeah. It's a huge investment firm in the city. If Rangeman got the contract, it would mean millions over the next three years." He paused. "You'd get a percentage, of course."

I waved that one away with a violent swipe of my hand. "I don't care about the money. You know how this is going to affect people, right? My mother? My sister? Mary Lou? Oh my god!" I stopped, stunned by the realization that it hadn't been my first concern. "Joe! What's Joe going to think? I'll have to tell him the truth."

Ranger nodded slowly. "I figured you would. And that's fine, as long as he understands that he can't talk about it with anyone or let on that the engagement isn't real."

"How are we going to do this? The 'Burg knows that Joe and I are currently on-again. Won't it seem suspicious if tomorrow I'm suddenly with you?"

Ranger smiled at the implied acceptance of the situation that hovered there in my statement. "I figured you could invite him to Pino's and tell him about it there." His smile widened again. Definitely the wolf grin.

And I knew exactly why it was the wolf grin. Ranger could imagine as well as I could what Joe's reaction was going to be to this news, and telling him about it in public would ensure that the entire city, never mind the 'Burg, would know about our fight – and presumed break-up – within an hour after the meeting.

I bent over at the waist to put my head between my knees to get some blood flowing back to my brain. I wasn't totally comfortable with the situation, but I was going to go through with it. I knew I was. Really, there was no other option because even if I hadn't just finished blowing up Ranger's brand new, never driven, uninsured car ... what it really came down to was that he needed my help. In all the years I'd known him, through all the probably hundreds of times I'd asked for his assistance, he'd asked for mine in return less than a handful of times. And so, yes, I was going to help him.

"Babe?" he said, rubbing my back gently. I think he was worried that I had passed out on him. It was definitely a consideration, but it hadn't happened yet.

I sat up and looked at him. "Okay," I said. His expression lightened and the corners of his mouth curved up a little. "I'll call Joe and ask him to meet me for dinner tonight."

He stood up from the couch. "Call me when you're done and we'll make further arrangements."

Ranger must have had more faith in my ability to survive that conversation with Joe than I did. Currently, I was picturing all sorts of scenarios for the meeting, most of them ending with Joe pulling out his gun and shooting me.

Ranger started to turn around, but then turned back to me, leaned down to brush a gentle kiss across my lips, and whispered, "Thanks," before letting himself out my front door.

I heard my deadbolt tumble closed and rolled my eyes. The big show off.

--

Dinner with Joe went ... pretty much the way I had expected it to. Fortunately for both of us – me, because it meant I was still alive; him, because it meant he wasn't in jail – he decided that ending the conversation by screaming and yelling at me was enough. No need to pull out his gun. For once, it was actually kind of a relief to have been yelled at in public.

I was currently curled up on my couch, eating some Ben & Jerry's and watching some sort of nondescript sports game. I hadn't had the money to pay for cable the last two months so I was stuck using rabbit ears and the reception left a whole lot to be desired. I knew it was sports because the announcers would yell out, "Goal!" every once in a while. That sort of ruled out basketball and baseball, but it left hockey, soccer, and a few other things in the running.

I heard a key in my front door lock and stifled a huge sigh. I had called Ranger as I was leaving the restaurant and I knew he was coming over to let me know what the plan was from here, but it wasn't Ranger at my door. Ranger has a key, but he never uses it. He'd rather pick my lock for some reason. He claims it's to keep his skills sharp, but I suspect it's because he's sentimental about that door lock after having done it for so long.

Joe closed the door behind himself. He didn't slam it shut, so I had hopes that the yelling wouldn't start for at least a few minutes, but I still checked to see if he was carrying. There didn't appear to be a gun at his back, which was reassuring, but I knew he'd still have one strapped to his ankle. If he bent over for any reason, I was throwing myself out the window.

He sat down in one of my easy chairs and his head flopped back on the back of it. I heard him sigh and it was the sound of a man who was exhausted. I could definitely relate to that.

I took a moment to look at him. He was wearing a dark brown t-shirt that matched his eyes and faded blue jeans. His feet were in scuffed runners that had probably been used in many a chase with a felon. He looked scrumptious and if I weren't bracing myself for an upcoming battle with him, I might have told him so.

I sat there, waiting for him to speak, my spoon resting in the ice cream container so I wouldn't look like a doorknob by forgetting it was halfway to my mouth if he said anything shocking.

"I understand why you need to do this."

You know. Something like that.

"You do?" I asked. I wasn't sure that I completely understood it myself, but I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt if he thought that he did.

"You're helping out your friend." He raised his head to look at me directly in the eyes. "It's the same thing you'd do if it were Sally or Mary Lou, right?"

There was more being asked there than what was said, but I ignored the rest of it to nod an affirmative.

"And it's not as though a lot is going to have to change in order for you to play along with this, right?"

"Wrong," came Ranger's soft answer from the vicinity of my door.

Joe jumped slightly, his hand reflexively going to his back where his gun normally rested, before realizing that he'd come over relatively unarmed. He eyed Ranger closely, but Ranger was going for unassuming and he had his hands clearly visible, palms open at his sides. It was as close a sign of surrender as I'd ever seen Ranger make, with the exception of when he'd walked in to my living room to face off against Scrog. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind because armed, unarmed, or just existing with good intentions for the night, both these men were dangerous. And they were especially dangerous right now given that neither looked very happy with the other.

"What do you mean, wrong?" Joe demanded as Ranger came to lean against the wall next to my television. The three of us were in classic stand-off position, each of us able to see the other. Seated and standing, the three of us were in a triangle. If there tension hadn't been so thick in the room I might have been tempted to laugh slightly at the irony of it.

"I need for this company to believe wholeheartedly that Stephanie and I are serious about each other and are getting married. It's going to be easier to do that if she's living with me than if she's living here in her apartment while I live in mine."

"Maybe they'll assume she has old-fashioned values and wants to wait until after marriage to sleep with you."

"Yeah, and they'll believe that because no one in Trenton knows that the two of you have been sleeping together." Ranger's voice was hard and the sarcasm practically dripped from it. I'd never heard him be sarcastic before.

"He's right, Joe. Connie and Lula can always tell when ... you know." It was embarrassing trying to articulate my sex life with one man in front of the other man that I loved. "The entire 'Burg always seems to know when I'm not getting any because the two of them can always tell."

"That's one reason," Ranger muttered.

I turned to him, a question on my face, but I didn't have time to ask it.

"So not only do I have to accept my girlfriend pretending to be engaged to you, but now I have to accept people assuming that the two of you are sleeping together?" Joe's face was beet red and he looked like a possible stroke casualty.

I tried to talk him down. "Joe, it'll be okay. It's just for a month, and then we can stage a break up or something."

Joe looked back and forth between Ranger and me. His eyes were hard and he looked like he was fighting not to say anything else. For a moment it looked like it would be a losing battle, but then he pushed a hand through his hair and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a moment and I could practically hear him mentally counting slowly to ten in order to gain control of himself again.

"Fine. I said I trust you, and I do." He came over to where I was still sitting and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. "I trust you, but that doesn't mean I want to sit around and listen while the two of you make plans to stage this. I'm going to head home, Cupcake." He looked at Ranger and said, "I'm guessing it would screw up your plan for Stephanie and I to spend one last night together." His tone made it a challenge, as though he was hoping for Ranger to confirm the idea so he could attack him about that, too.

"Joe," I said, my tone placating, "you're probably right that it would be a bad idea. Especially after the fight we had in Pino's. The 'Burg will have already heard about that and they're going to believe that we've broken up because of it."

He wrenched his eyes from the glaring war he was having with Ranger in order to look back at me. His expression softened only slightly, his pupils still dilated with anger.

"Okay, Cupcake. I won't make this any harder for you than it already is." The unspoken suggestion was that being involved with Ranger like this was going to be a strain for me. I let that assumption go, too.

Joe walked across my living room without another word, but when he got to the door, Ranger said, "It would be best if you looked pissed off as you go out to your truck. It'll make it all the more believable that the two of you are finished."

Joe stopped but didn't turn around and I could actually see the muscles in his back bunch up from the tension flowing through him. He finally turned back to look Ranger directly in the eye. "That won't be a problem. But expect a public reconciliation of my friendship with Steph. We're going to need to do that to justify all the time I'm going to be spending over at your building. It'll make it all the more believable that I'm supporting you two lovebirds and that we're bonding at your place." His expression hardened just slightly more. "Because you can bet that I'm going to be over there regularly."

Ranger's lips curved in a catlike smile. "No problem. Just give it a few days to a week, first. We want to make sure the world knows how happy the two of us are together before you start hanging out with us."

Joe's eyes narrowed in a glare, but all he did was leave and slam the door loudly behind himself.

"Guess we're not going to have to worry about making people believe that he's still angry," I said quietly.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Please tell me what you think. It's my first fic and so I'm worried that it seems really fake. I would love feedback. _

_Also, if anyone has any ideas for how Ranger and Steph should make their announcement, please let me know. - Josie._


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic, so please be kind. _

_I'm sorry it has been so long between posts. Dell currently has my computer and I hope they are fixing it, but in the meantime I am using my friend's computer to type up another chapter. I hope that it picks up all right from where I left off in the story. Please let me know what you think._

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 3_

I woke the next morning to the bleating of my alarm. I slapped it off and sat up in bed, running my hands over my face and through my mess of curls. I could barely open my eyes and I felt like I had been on a bender the night before, without any of the booze or fun to get there. Ranger had stayed for only a little while after Joe had left. He had said that he thought it would be best that we announce our engagement soon since he would be putting in his bid for the contract within a couple of weeks and it would make things seem more believable if our engagement didn't come the night before his bid. I couldn't argue with his logic, but it also didn't leave me feeling like I had a lot of time to prepare myself for the reactions I was bound to experience from my friends and family.

I grabbed my hairbrush and started trying to tame my hair. I didn't even know how Ranger planned on asking me to marry him. He was normally such a private man that I wasn't sure I could see him getting down on one knee in a restaurant. I laughed at myself as the idea of him using the Jumbotron at a game came to mind. Probably he would just put the ring on my finger and allow the 'Burg grapevine to carry the news to the entire city. No muss, no fuss.

And not a lot of fun to tell our kids and grandkids about.

Not that there would be any kids or grandkids, at least not Ranger's and mine. My hand stilled in its brushing as my gut clenched with what could only be termed disappointment, although it wasn't an emotion I was used to feeling when faced with the idea of having children of my own. Usually I was faced with a blind panic and the need to double up on my birth control dosage when I thought about having children. But here I was, feeling disappointment over the idea that Ranger and I wouldn't be having children together because there wasn't going to be a real engagement. I pushed back the disappointment only to be struck by a pang of guilt that the disappointment I was feeling was because I wouldn't be having Ranger's child when I had always run in fear from the same idea with Joe. I wanted to feel excitement over the idea of having children with Joe, but for some reason, even now, no matter how hard I tried, the only emotion that rose up was panic.

I brushed the thought away as I literally started brushing my hair again. I didn't have the energy to be dwelling on such impractical thoughts. _Food,_ I thought. _What you need is some food._ I knew I was allowing my expert use of denial to yet again avoid an important issue, but it was morning and I was awake and it seemed cruel to face those kinds of questions under those circumstances.

I went to the fridge to grab something to eat for breakfast and my phone rang as I was passing it. My greeting was answered with a typical Ranger, "Yo."

"What's up?" I asked, rummaging through my cupboards for something other than hamster food to eat. A strand of hair flopped down in front of my face, and I pushed it back behind my ear, the gesture reminding me strongly of Ranger constantly doing the same thing.

"Joe Juniak is hosting a fundraiser tonight for his re-election campaign for governor. I got tickets and I thought it would be a good idea for you and I to go together."

"That probably is a good idea. It'll make it seem more likely that we're a couple when you eventually propose."

"That's the idea," he replied with typical Ranger brevity.

I waited for him to say more, but that seemed to be all that was forthcoming so I asked, "What's the dress code and am I meeting you there?"

"I asked Ella to pick you up something to wear. She'll be dropping it off early this afternoon because I know you like to have lots of time to get ready. It's formal so I've hired a limo to take us. Cocktails are until 7 so I'll pick you up around 6:30."

"Sounds good. I'll do my best."

I thought I could hear him smile on the other end of the line. "Babe, I've already told you that you never disappoint."

I smiled in answer and didn't even mind when he hung up without saying good-bye.

I decided that my day would be better spent primping for the night's event than spending even half of it out chasing skips and fighting off garbage cans, so I called Connie to tell her I wouldn't be coming in.

"What do you mean, you're not coming in?" she demanded when I got her on the line.

"Why? Do you have a lot of skips? So many that you need me to come in today?"

"Well, no," she admitted peevishly. "But that never stops you from coming in every other day, so I want to know what's going on."

I decided that telling her half the truth would be better than telling her nothing if I wanted to get her off my back. It would also be a small step on the path of convincing all our friends and family members that we were a couple. "Ranger asked me to go to a fundraiser thing with him tonight so I'm going to spend the day just relaxing and getting ready."  
In the background of the office I could hear Lula pipe up and ask why I wasn't coming in to the office. Connie relayed my response to her and Lula grabbed the receiver. "So, you and Batman finally going to get over yourselves and get together now that you and the cop aren't together anymore?"

"You guys heard about that?"

"Girl, the entire city has heard about it. I especially liked the part where the cop came back over to your apartment last night and Batman kicked his ass to the curb for you!"

I had a feeling that Joe was going to especially hate having that part get out. I cringed at the thought of having to talk to him again anytime soon. If "talk" was even the right term. Probably "yell" would be a better one, but I wouldn't be the one doing the yelling.

"Yeah, it's definitely over," I told Lula.

"Well, it's about time! And now with Batman taking you out somewhere all classy, you're going to finally be getting the attention you deserve," she announced decisively. "I say it's about time you got with a real man. Like me with my Tank. Now we just have to find Connie a man so she'll stop snapping at me every time she sees Tank drop me off and give me a bit of that extra special Tank lovin' before he leaves."

I heard Connie object loudly and then she was back on the line. "So you're not coming in today," she asked to confirm.

"No, I'm getting picked up at 6:30 and it's already almost 10 so I'm going to have a long soak in the tub and then start getting dressed for tonight."

"All right," she said. "You just make sure you get in here tomorrow so you can tell us all about it."

"And tell her to bring donuts with her," I heard Lula yell in the background.

I laughed and hung up after saying a quick good-bye before doing as I had said, and going to have a long bath.

- - -

I woke to the sound of banging on my front door. Loud banging. Groggy, I sat up in the now tepid bathwater and reached for my watch, which I had set on the lid of my toilet tank in case I wanted to see the time. I blinked my eyes a few times so I could read the dial, and then blinked a few more times to get the time to register. Twelve o'clock. Noon. I had fallen asleep in my bathtub for two hours.

"Oh no!" I yelled as I fought to get my body to co-operate so I could stand up and get out of the tub. The banging was still happening and I realized it must be Ella, here to drop off my dress for the night.

"Coming!" I yelled as I quickly toweled off, just enough so that I wouldn't drip water across my floor when I went to the door, and then wrapped a short robe around myself. I figured that since it was just Ella, it would be fine not to get dressed. And if one of my neighbors happened to be at their door when I opened mine for Ella, chances are they would be too near-sighted to see anything important anyways.

"Coming," I yelled again as I walked to the door, cinching the belt on my robe along the way. I got it tied and pulled open the door, saying, "I am so sorry, Ella. I completely ..." I trailed off as I got a look at the delivery person standing in front of me. Not Ella, but Ranger himself.

His eyes ran the length of me, taking in my still wet, and completely bare legs. I could see his eyes darken and thought his breath started coming a bit deeper, but he didn't say anything to acknowledge my current state.

He handed me the dress bag he was holding in one hand, "Ella had some other errands to run so I told her I would drop this off for you. Caught you in the shower, did I?"

I blushed. "No! I mean," I trailed off again, trying to organize my thoughts. "I fell asleep in the tub and you woke me up." I thought for a moment. "And you never knock."

He smiled just slightly, a tiny lifting of the corners of his lips. We were still standing in my doorway and he took a step closer to me. I found myself looking up into his eyes, eyes that were crinkled at the corners as though he was happy.

I shook myself slightly and took a step backwards. Ranger took advantage of the space to enter my apartment and it was only then that I realized he was carrying another two bags.

He saw me looking and said, "Shoes and stuff to go with the dress. I'm told that they're very pivotal pieces to the final effect."

I smiled, knowing he was laughing inside at the thought that the wrong shoes or jewelry could possibly wreck how I looked. "You'd be surprised. Thank Ella for me, for picking up all of this." I went to my purse and pulled out my checkbook. "How much do I owe you for the dress and stuff?"

Ranger stepped closer to me and wrapped his hand around mine that was holding the checks. "You don't have to pay me back for this. You're helping me out and I appreciate it."

I smiled. "According to you, this is payback for the Lamborghini."

He returned the smile. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean you have to be out of pocket to play along with it."

Ranger tilted his chin down just slightly and suddenly his lips were within kissing distance, only a couple of inches away from mine. I felt my chest tighten as I unconsciously held my breath. He stood there, looking down at me, but not making any move to close the distance between us. I was flooded with pleasure from the heat of his body being so close to mine and my eyes drifted shut. I tilted my chin up and leaned closer just enough for our lips to meet. At first it was just the barest brushing together of lips, but then Ranger took the final step toward me to close the distance between us and the kiss deepened. My hands went limp and I felt the checkbook drop out of my hand.

His arms wrapped around me, and my hands were grasping the material of his t-shirt, bunching it up as he pulled me even closer to him, so that we were thigh to thigh, and chest to chest. I felt his tongue touch mine and I think my eyes crossed behind their lids.

His hands slid across the skin of my back, running down the sides of my robed body and over the flair of my hips to my bare legs. His hands touched my bare skin and slid up to my behind and I heard him groan, "Babe," against my lips.

And then, as quickly as it had started, the kiss was over. Ranger pulled himself away from me, leaving me dazed and breathless. My only solace came from the fact that he looked as disappointed to be pulling away as I felt.

We stood there like that, just looking at each other, both of us trying to get control of our breathing. Ranger's eyes were as black as the night sky and even from a few feet away I could see his pupils were dilated in desire. Our eyes were locked together across that space and I found myself hoping that for once his ESP was failing him because otherwise he would know exactly how disappointed I was he had stopped, and how hard I was fighting at that moment not to launch myself at him and tear his clothes off with my teeth if I had to.

I saw his eyes widen slightly and his breath hitched. But instead of closing the distance between us, he took a step back and toward the door.

"I have to go, Babe." I think my disappointment must have shown on my face because he added, "It's the last thing I want to do, but I have to. Morelli wouldn't be happy if I were to stay right now."

I flushed again, embarrassed that I had lost my head yet again with Ranger. "I'm sorry," I said softly.

He walked back to me and tilted my chin up so I was forced to look him in the eye. "I'm not," he said.

He kissed me again, softly, and let himself out of my apartment.

I thought about giving into the wobbly feeling in my knees and letting them collapse beneath me, but it seemed overly dramatic so instead I decided to check out the dress Ranger had brought.

I sat down on the couch and unzipped the bag, noting it was from the finest dress store in Trenton – about five steps above Macy's, and completely out of my price league even at the best of times. More guilt, since now Ranger not only would be spending money replacing his new car but he had spent money on buying me a dress to pay him back.

I pulled the sides of the bag apart so I could see inside of it and gasped. The dress shimmered even in that small bit of light. I pulled it away from the bag and marveled at the silkiness of the black material beneath my fingers. It was a long, fitted gown with a slit that would go half way up my thigh, and with sleeves that would sit off my shoulders. The material was shot through with silver threads so every move I made in this dress would shimmer in the light. I pulled out the shoe box from the next bag and shook my head at the Manolo Blahnik label on it. The shoes were open-toed, three inch heels with slim ankle straps, and they were downright sexy in an understated way.

I looked at the last bag and I was hesitant to open it given how much Ranger had already spent on my outfit for the night. I was praying that it wasn't jewelry because if it was, I was going to be in hock for the rest of my life so I could pay him back.

The bag was pure, shiny black, no logo on it. I tentatively used the edge of a finger to lift it open just slightly, hoping I wouldn't catch sight of any padded jeweler's boxes, but instead all I could see inside the bag was more black. I sighed, my impatience getting the better of me, and poured the contents of the bag out onto the couch. A black lace thong and matching strapless bra tumbled out. The tags were still attached and said La Perla, but there were no prices to be seen. It was the no prices part that scared me the most. Even more than the sheerness of the lace of the thong. I heaved a deep sigh and realized I was going to have to work in some time for a bikini wax into my plans for the afternoon.

- - -

Ranger knocked on my door at 6:30 on the dot, just as I was finishing putting in my earrings. I walked across the apartment, loving the feel of the dress against my skin. I had to admit that Ella had chosen well and I looked great in the dress. My hair was up in a french twist and I thought that I looked polished, nothing like the normal Stephanie Plum.

I opened the door and smiled at Ranger in greeting. The corners of his lips curved in a smile.

"You look beautiful."

I wanted to return the compliment to him, but the sight of him had my tongue practically hanging out of my mouth. He was dressed in a black suit that looked very expensive, black shirt and black tie that was striped through with a different shade of black. He had on simple black dress shoes to complete the suit, but I was willing to bet they were as expensive as the every other part of what he was wearing.

Ranger's grin widened at my reaction to him. "Babe. You're going to give me ideas."

_No need for that,_ I thought. I already had lots of my own.

I gave myself a shake and said, "Let me just grab my purse and we can go." I walked to the kitchen counter where I'd placed it, said good night to Rex, suggesting he not wait up, and turned back to the door. Ranger's eyes were following my every movement and I felt myself flush.

"Okay," I said, trying to gain control of myself again. "Ready."

He offered his arm to me, which I accepted after locking the door, and we made our way to the elevator. The ride down was painful. I could feel Ranger watching me as I tried to keep my eyes on the doors ahead of us. I finally gave in and looked over at him.

"What?" I wanted to know.

"You look beautiful," he said, "but I still prefer your hair down." He ran the tip of one callused finger down the side of my neck and I felt goose pimples rise on my skin. He leaned closer and I could feel his hot breath on my neck and I shivered for a different reason entirely.

"Although, I do enjoy the fact that I have easier access to your neck.

The doors opened to the lobby, I stepped out, trying to gain control of myself yet again. I didn't know what it was about this man that made me constantly have to fight for decorum. I squared my shoulders and then found myself coming up short. A stretch limo was waiting for us outside the door.

I looked up at Ranger and found him smiling down at me.

"Come on, time to go enjoy ourselves," he said before opening the door for us to go into the night.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please let me know what you think. I really appreciate all the feedback, and I want to thank every person who was nice enough to let me know if they enjoyed (or didn't enjoy) the story. Special thanks to Kate, Linda, and Haleigh for being so nice and offering to beta the story for me. I still plan on taking you all up on your offers, as soon as things are back to normal again.

I hope to have my computer back in the next couple of weeks, but I may ask to borrow my friend's computer again before that, it depends on how much time I have. Thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic, so please be kind._

_Special thanks to Haleigh for her help with editing this chapter. Without her, this chapter would be a jumble of nonsense.  
_

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 4_

I was shocked at the crowd of people and number of lights streaming across the front of the Trenton Convention Center when we pulled up. There were flashbulbs going off constantly and it took me a moment to realize that the crowd was likely filled with reporters. I looked over at Ranger and saw him smile just slightly.

"Juniak knows his supporters and the fact that they would all love the opportunity to get into the society pages just for showing up. He's a smart man."

I nodded my head in response, the look on my face undoubtedly daunted by the amount of press that we would be facing when we stepped out of the limo. Ranger's face was well known in Trenton now that the papers had printed stories about him being wrongfully accused for Julie's kidnapping and the heroic gesture he made to save her and me. He would immediately be recognized when he stepped outside. And sadly, given that I was probably as happy about my press as he was about his, so would I. Ranger's plan to make all of Trenton aware of our "relationship" would be taking huge leaps forward with this one event.

The limo stopped in front of the door and someone opened the door for us. Ranger climbed out onto the red carpet that had been laid between the curb and the door and turned back to reach a hand down to assist me. I could see the flashes going off even faster now that the reporters knew they had a chance to capture a shot of Ranger with a "date."

The flashbulbs were like strobe lights as I emerged from the backseat. Ranger took my hand and laced it through the crook of his arm. He smiled down at me and I thought I saw happiness showing in his eyes. "You look beautiful tonight, Babe," he whispered in my ear. I managed to hear him despite all the questions being yelled at us by the reporters. We ignored all of the questions, but the voices were a constant barrage on us and by the time we got to the door of the convention center I was feeling incredibly overwhelmed.

Joe Juniak himself was standing just inside the building, greeting people as they came in. He saw the two of us enter and his eyes lit up. He finished shaking the hand of the person he was talking to and bypassed the next two couples in line in order to greet us personally.

"Ranger, Stephanie. I'm so glad the two of you could join us tonight. You didn't have any problems running the gauntlet outside, did you?" Juniak asked, shaking first my hand and then my Ranger's.

"Not too bad. You'd think they had never seen me out on a date before," Ranger said.

Juniak's eyes widened a minute amount before he could school his expression. He laughed like he thought the reporters' reactions were indeed ridiculous and I realized that Ranger had taken a very effective step in further spreading the news of our relationship.

"Stephanie, you look beautiful tonight. Do we have you to thank for Ranger actually putting on a suit?" Juniak asked. I thought there was a good chance he was trying to buy himself some time to recover from the shock of the idea of Ranger dating. If I weren't in on the plan, I probably would have been shocked, too.

"No, he did all this on his own. He's very adaptable," I said with a smile that Ranger returned in addition to pressing a kiss to my temple. I knew that it was just for the show we were putting on for people, but the feel of his lips on me made my heart race just a little, even if it was just in that incredibly innocent way.

"Well, come on in and go mingle for a bit. We're having cocktails right now and dinner will begin in about a half hour. I've got to greet some more people but I'll try to catch up with the two of you in a little while. Make sure you enjoy yourselves," Juniak said, shaking Ranger's hand again and leaning down to give mine a brief kiss across the top.

Ranger thanked Juniak and looped my hand through his arm again. "Dirty old man," he muttered to himself quietly and it surprised a laugh out of me.

Ranger's eyebrow lifted up in question and I said, "He's only in his fifties, so he's really not that old. And I don't think you have to worry about his intentions with me. He's doing the hand kissing thing with every woman that he greets." I tilted my chin in the direction of where Juniak was standing, right at that moment kissing another woman's hand.

I saw the corner of Ranger's mouth raise in a smile and he gave a small shake of his head, but the tension that I had felt in the arm I was holding disappeared.

We entered the main room and I gasped. The entire room was decorated in black and silver, from the balloons that covered the ceiling to the cloths draped over every chair. They set off the brilliant white of the table clothes perfectly and made the entire room seem very modern. The flashes of colour some of the other women were wearing cast discordant notes with the rest of the room, but Ranger and I fit in with the décor perfectly. Glittering chandeliers hung from the ceiling, accenting the silver of the balloons that hung around them.

We wandered around a bit, chatting with other couples and being generally sociable. Ranger kept his hand on the small of my back the entire time and the heat from his hand, the feel of his touch, were going to slowly drive me nuts if I focused on them too much. So instead, I put my focus on the people we spoke with.

I knew about half of the people there, mainly just from growing up in the Burg. Most of them were business owners or other people who were high up in the community. Some I knew by face if not by name. But it seemed like Ranger knew the other half of the group that I had never met, and they were the half that undoubtedly had the money in the room. Based on the conversations they struck up with us, some of them were apparently people Ranger had met through business, but most were just people he had met over the years. And it was obvious that all of them were surprised when Ranger introduced me as his girlfriend.

We followed one of the servers to our assigned table and found that we were seated at a table very close to the front of the room. If we had been at a wedding, we would have been at the table with the bride and groom's parents. I had known that Juniak liked and respected Ranger, but it wasn't until just then that I realized how much.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," the MC said into the microphone. "Welcome to this evening's event." He made a motion toward someone on the side of the room and, immediately, tuxedoed servers began spreading through the room. Two walked to each of the large tables, one carrying dinner held on a huge tray and the other holding a stand.

"We hope you all enjoy the wonderful meal the chef has prepared for us tonight. We have speeches and entertainment lined up for this evening after dinner, which was made to be especially delicious in hopes of slowing down your escape."

Polite laughter sounded throughout the room, but quickly stopped as the food was served. I think I may have unintentionally moaned when I saw mine. At least I think that's what caused Ranger's lips to turn up in a smile. A decadent chocolate mousse followed for dessert and I knew that the MC hadn't been entirely joking.

When the dishes had been cleared and we were all sprawled out in our chairs, our finery straining with the effort of holding its seams due to the increased stress from the food we'd consumed, Juniak stepped up to the microphone.

"I want to thank all of you for joining us here tonight," he began. "I appreciate the support and the friendship each and every one of you has given me." He paused for some polite applause. "I can honestly say that I am blessed to have the best supporters in this country." The applause grew more enthusiastic. "As all of you know, I was part of the Trenton Police Department for many years, and so I'm big on having evidence to support my suppositions. I can't tell you all how pleased I am to have proof to support this claim as well."

An overhead projector turned on and the white wall behind Juniak was covered by the picture of a brand new, red Mercedes convertible. "We have been blessed enough to receive the donation of a brand new Mercedes convertible from an anonymous donor. And one lucky attendee here tonight has on the back of his or her place card a number that will match the number drawn from the crystal bowl my lovely wife is bringing to me. Thank you Melinda," he said as she placed it down on the podium. "That person is going to win the car pictured behind me. My campaign manager already has it in our possession and I can honestly tell you that the car is a beauty. We just couldn't see any way to bring it into the convention center without the management objecting." The laughter that followed that comment was much more enthusiastic and involved. Juniak had everyone's attention now.

"The winner of this generously donated car is the person with the number 406 on the back of his or her place card." Silence followed Juniak's announcement as everyone checked to see if they were the lucky winner.

"That's me," Ranger said as he gave me a kiss on the cheek and began walking toward the front of the room and the dais. I sat, stunned, as I watched Juniak confirm Ranger to be the winner and then shook his hand.

Ranger stepped up to the microphone. The sound of his low voice, now amplified enough to surround the entire room, caused goosebumps to develop on my arms.

"I want to thank Joe for this opportunity to get up in front of all of you. The car is definitely a beauty, but unfortunately it would clash with the rest of the vehicles in my garage." Laughter spurted across the room, the women tittering a bit harder than the men as they watched Ranger speak. Not that I was jealous or anything. Since I'm involved with Joe, it was simply an observation. Right.

"So," Ranger continued, "I'm going to donate the car back to Joe's campaign. The country could use more politicians like him and so I know the money will go to a worthy cause."

The entire room erupted in animated applause. Juniak came over and shook Ranger's hand as enthusiastically as the rest of the room was reacting to the news. Ranger smiled at Juniak for a moment, and then turned his eyes down to me, his smile still on his face. But the smile was slightly different when he looked at me than when he had been looking at Juniak and I recognized it for what it was: his wolf smile. I felt my breath catch in my throat as I realized something was up.

Ranger leaned close to the microphone again, but this time his voice was deeper, more intimate. I doubt there was a dry pair of panties in the entire room.

"Many of you who are here tonight know me, and those who know me know that I'm an opportunist. I have to admit, I can't help wanting to take advantage of the opportunity tonight has presented me with." His smile widened in direct relation to the way my heart slowed down.

I was stuck in place, torn between the desire to run out of the room in embarrassment of what I suspected was coming next, and desire to charge the stage and clamp my hand over Ranger's mouth so he couldn't finish his sentence. I suspect he knew what was going through my head because Ranger cut right to the chase.

"Stephanie Plum, we're here with many of the people who know us, and I want to share this moment with them as well." He paused for a moment, ostensibly to take a breath, but I suspect it was actually because he was enjoying dragging out the moment.

"I have loved you for years. Will you marry me?"

The room was dead silent. Or that may have just been me because I think my ears turned themselves off. People were surrounding me, their mouths moving, but no sound coming out. I felt a pinch on my arm and looked over to see Sue Ann Grebek standing next to me.

"What are you waiting for? Get up there!" she said, giving me a shove out of my chair and another to propel me forward toward the stage.

I somehow managed to navigate the stairs without tripping despite the fact I couldn't really feel my legs. Ranger was standing at the top of the dais, looking me with an expectant expression on his face. _If I punched him in the nose, I wonder if he'll expect that?_ I thought to myself, but managed to stomp down on the urge. I looked behind me and the entire room was waiting for my response. I swallowed past the lump in my throat, and tried to speak but no words would come out.

I looked back at Ranger. He still looked expectant, but now there was a look in his eyes that suggested not all of the experience was fake, that part of him was actually wondering what my answer would be. I stamped down the thought, and reminded myself that it was fake. And my answer was fake too.

"Yes," I said, my voice no more than a whisper at first. "Yes, I will marry you," I said more clearly.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I'm really behind with feedback, but I want to thank every person who commented on the last 2 chapters. I look forward to your thoughts on how the story is going, so please keep them coming. _

_Thanks _

_-- Josie_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind._

_Huge thanks to Linda and Haleigh for helping me with the story by reading it over and acting as my sounding boards. And thank you to everyone who had such kind words for it, as well. Knowing that people are enjoying what I'm writing is probably the only thing that has me still going on this. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! _

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 5_

If I had thought that applause had erupted in the room before, it was nothing compared to the blast of noise that greeted my acceptance of the proposal. There were even a few whistles from one of the tables in the back.

My eyes were having some problems focusing due to the lack of oxygen to my brain, but I think I saw Ranger slip what was a platinum-set diamond solitaire on my finger. He caught my eyes in his gaze and slowly raised the hand up to place a kiss on the finger that now wore his ring before using that same hand to pull me closer to him. He leaned down, his lips just a breath away from my own, but he didn't close the distance. Without him saying the words, I instinctively knew he wanted me to do it, to complete the kiss. And no matter how annoyed I was at him for throwing this at me the way he had, I wanted to kiss him back, too.

I threaded my hand through the hair at the nape of his neck and pulled his lips down on mine. That was the extent of the control he allowed me to take over the kiss. The rest of it was a battle of equals as his lips caressed mine, and mine answered him back. I couldn't stop my body from melting into his and, for just that one moment, I allowed myself to forget that the engagement was fake and that there would be no wedding. I simply enjoyed the experience of being with Ranger.

My tongue licked across his lips, begging to be let inside, and suddenly Ranger was pulling his head away from mine, ending the kiss, although his arms remained wrapped around my back. I looked up at him, my expression no doubt showing my confusion, and Ranger smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners, as he gave a tiny head tilt to remind me of the very large audience that we had.

I felt my face flush with embarrassment, but Ranger didn't let me run, he simply smiled even more widely and leaned down to brush a kiss across my cheek.

"You're the only one who makes me forget myself, Babe," he whispered in my ear, and and looked up to see his eyes dilated black with the same lust that I was feeling. I flushed again, but not with embarrassment this time.

Ranger kept one arm wrapped tightly around my waist as we make our way back to our table amidst tons of applause. Juniak was back at the mike and saying something, but my head was swimming and I couldn't make sense of any of it. Ranger guided me onto my chair before sitting down in his own, which had been moved closer to mine so he could keep his arm around my shoulders. We sat there, me trying to listen to the speakers but unable to process any of what was being said because my head was whirling with the enormity of what had just happened, and him listening to the speakers and occasionally leaning over to place another kiss on my bare shoulder. Kisses that had my hormones trying to make me forget where we were yet again. If my head hadn't already been so clouded with everything that had been going on for the night, the feel of his lips against my skin would have done it. As it was, his touch was almost enough to push me over the edge.

The speeches finally ended and music started playing from somewhere to the back of the room. I turned around in my seat and saw that a band had been set up in the back corner.

I felt Ranger's lips press another hot kiss to my shoulder before grazing the edge of my ear, a move that had me shivering despite the warmth of the room.

"Dance with me," he whispered in my ear. His breath caressed my skin the way his lips had been and I had to give my head a shake before I was capable of answering him.

"Yes."

He captured my lips with his for a much briefer kiss than we had shared before, and then offered me his hand to help me up out of my chair. Once I was standing, though, his hand didn't release mine. He led our way through the crowds of people, only briefly acknowledging their offers of congratulations as he took us past them on the way to what was our ultimate destination.

"Stephanie, Ranger! I just want to offer my congratulations yet again," Juniak said as he and his wife danced past us. I accepted with a smile and Ranger with a nod, and then the dancing couple was lost in the sea of bodies.

The band was playing jazz, a style of music that wasn't usually my first choice as a listener, but it seemed to fit the mood of the evening somehow. I didn't recognize the song they were playing; it was a strictly acoustical piece and rather upbeat, and it had the people on the dance floor smiling and looking like they were enjoying themselves. Ranger took me into his arms just as the song ended and he looked down at me to smile as we joined the rest of the audience in their applause.

A woman stepped up the microphone on the stage and the band started playing the opening bars of "Unforgettable."

Ranger wrapped me in his broad arms and took my hand in his as we started dancing. At first, there was a bit of space between us, but as the song went on I found my body gravitating closer and closer to his, until eventually there was no space between us at all and we moved in time to the music as one fluid unit.

I rested my head on his shoulder and felt Ranger's arm wrap itself more tightly behind my back as I lost myself in the music and the moment. I couldn't remember feeling this happy in a long time, and it made me sad to think that the happiness I was feeling was tied to a fake proposal from a man who would never want to be with me.

My breath hitched in my throat and Ranger's chin nudged my forehead so I was forced to lift my head from his shoulder and look up at him.

"What's up, Babe?" he asked, his expression concerned.

I sighed and fought back the emotions swirling around inside of me. "Nothing. I'm fine, really."

He kissed my forehead, the gesture more comforting than anything else he could have done, but he didn't let the subject go. He gave me a look that was both disbelieving and supportive. "Everything is not fine. You're unhappy with something. You want to talk about it?"

I shook my head quickly. "No, really. It's all right. I was just thinking about ... something. But it's nothing. So, when were you going to tell me that you were the anonymous donor of the convertible?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

He smiled down at me. I had seen him smile more in this one evening together than possibly in all our other times together combined.

"Will you be mad at your fiancé if I say never?"

Pleasure flooded through me at the sound of that title being applied to him, but I ruthlessly shoved it away. According to Ranger, he wasn't marriage material. His love didn't come with a ring and he wasn't in the market for a family. So getting attached to this illusion was only going to lead to heartbreak for me.

I shook my head and forced myself to focus. "Yes, I think there's a good chance my fiancé would be in the doghouse. And that would be such a bad start to the marriage," I answered, intentionally keeping my tone jesting.

Something flared in Ranger's eyes, but I couldn't read it. His lips curved in a catlike smile. "You're right. I don't want to be in the doghouse when it means I can't be sleeping next to you."

I knew the comment was for the sake of the people around us who might be listening, but I couldn't help the answering heat that I felt rise in my body at the thought of spending every night in bed with Ranger.

_What about Joe?_ my conscience wanted to know.

_This is all for the illusion,_ I answered. _Joe would understand. There's nothing real about any of this._

The idea threatened to have me slipping into a serious depression so I took a deep breath – ignoring the way my chest brushed up against Ranger's when I did it, and the way that it made my nipples harden, never mind how it made the rest of me feel – and brought my thoughts back to the subject of our discussion.

"So are you going to choose door A and go with the doghouse, or door B and actually admit to me what I've already guessed?" I asked.

He laughed quietly. His words were just as quiet, but somehow managed to carry to my ears, if no one else's around us. "Actually, the entire thing was Juniak's idea."

"What?"

Ranger nodded. "I went to him and explained that I needed a way to propose to you that would make sure everyone in Trenton knew about our engagement immediately, and he was the one who suggested I use the fundraiser."

"Was it his idea for you to donate the car, too?"

His face creased into a huge smile. "You could say that. Except there's no actual car. Juniak said he would be happy to help me out, but that I would need a good excuse for getting up on stage and suggested the car thing. He made sure to point out the nice tax break the donation would give me. Except, there's no actual car. He said he'd prefer just to receive the cash equivalent." He gave a bark of laughter and shook his head at the thought.

"So Juniak lied to everyone?" I whispered.

"He said that it was for a good cause. Plus, he made sure to price out, down to the last penny, how much that exact car would cost me – retail, no less – and made me cut a check for that amount. The man's an excellent businessman. We're just lucky he never went over to the dark side."

I marveled for a moment at the creativity of our state govenor and then smiled. "So he agreed to do you a favour if you agreed to do him a bigger favour? You'd think he had been a lawyer instead of a cop. All that quid pro quo."

The song ended and we broke apart to join the rest of the audience in their applause. We danced for several more songs without feeling the need to talk anymore. I couldn't speak for Ranger, but I was just enjoying being in his arms and feeling his heart beating next to mine.

The end of the evening came too quickly for me after that. The crowd had been thinning out the entire time we had been dancing, but soon it became clear that unless we wanted to be the last couple on the dance floor, we needed to leave as well.

Sue Ann came up to us as she and her husband were leaving and she gave me a huge hug. "I am _so_ happy for you, Steph! It's about time you figured out what you were doing. I mean, all those years just wasted with you waffling back and forth between Ranger and Joe."

I frowned, and not just because I was still doing exactly that. "What do you mean? I thought you liked Joe."

She made a throwaway gesture with her hand. "Of course I like Joe Morelli. I've been ogling that man since I was twelve, just like every other woman in the Burg. But he was never right for you, anyone could see that. I'm just thankful that you finally did, and that you also finally understood who it is that _is_ right for you."

Sue Ann gave me another tight squeeze that left be breathless, but didn't quite explain the dizziness that I had started feeling as soon as she made her pronouncement, and she and her husband left, hand in hand. Ranger wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me to him. He didn't say anything about Sue Ann's comments and I guessed he had missed the entire conversation with Sue Ann because he had been accepting congratulations from her husband. I decided right there and then that it wasn't a conversation he needed to hear the details of.

Ranger directed our way over to where Juniak was shaking hands with some of the people leaving and we got in line for our turn to do the same. When we got to the front of the group, Juniak said, "So, have the two of you thought about a date yet?" There was mischief gleaming in his eyes and I swore I saw his wife roll her own eyes.

I wrapped my arm tightly around Ranger's waist and turned my body toward his, playing the role of a doting fiancée for all I was worth. "Hopefully not too long of an engagement, but we haven't had any time to discuss things yet. I'm thinking a Spring wedding would be nice. Maybe at the city nursery, with all those fresh blossoms opening up everywhere."

Ranger leaned closer to whisper in my ear. "I appreciate you getting into the role as much as you are, but I'll warn you right now: I will retaliate if you make any comments about me having a desire to see the baby goslings."

I looked up at him, a smile on my face and saw him smiling back at me. Ranger closed the distance between us and touched his lips to mine. It was no more than a brushing of our lips together, but it had my internal temp skyrocketing again.

I seriously needed to get home and get away from him so I could gain some perspective.

We finished our good-byes and walked out the doors of the convention center to find the limo sitting there waiting for us. Ranger sat down next to me in the back, but we didn't talk immediately.

Just when the silence was becoming comfortable and I finally felt like I had my emotions in grasp again, Ranger broke the silence and turned me upside down all over again.

"Have you thought about where you're going to stay tonight?" he asked.

I had assumed I was being taken back to my apartment, and was about to say as much, when he added, "Because people would expect us to be celebrating our engagement, so if we spend the night at our own, separate apartments, people may wonder about it."

I spent a moment trying to find a flaw in the reasoning because I wasn't sure I was up to spending the night with Ranger after spending all evening with Ranger getting into the frighteningly serious state that I was in at that moment, but I also couldn't argue with what he had said. My neighbours alone would be a fount of information for the Burg gossip mill if they knew I had stayed in my apartment alone tonight. I could try to argue that Ranger had in fact stayed over but had left really early in the morning, but given that Mrs. Bestler often suffered insomnia and would spend her nights walking the floors of the building, in addition to staking out the elevator, I knew there was only a very slim likelihood of that story being believed.

I turned my face to look up at him. We were seated hip to hip on the seat despite all the room in the back of the limo and turning my head put Ranger's lips within kissing distance. I tried not to focus on that.

"You're right about the fact that people will talk if they think we haven't spent the night together. Given how quickly this proposal came after Morelli's and my break-up, it would probably be best that we not give them anything more to think about."

Ranger wrapped on the partition glass and told the driver that we'd had a change of plans, and that we would both be going back to Haywood, and I realized that he hadn't seriously thought I would agree to spending the night in the same place together.

He pressed a button and the glass slid back up and closed before sitting back on the seat next to me. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer so he could place a kiss in my hair, while using his free hand to stroke the side of my face.

"I can't thank you enough for going along with all of this, Steph. I know I told you that you owe me, but if you had said no I would have understood."

I smiled at him. "Even if I hadn't just blown up your brand new, uninsured Lamborghini, I'd want to do this for you. You're my friend and I like to be there for my friends."

Ranger smiled back, a small smile that softened his entire expression and made him look more vulnerable somehow. I had never considered the possibility that Ranger could look vulnerable.

He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to my lips, more a peck than an actual kiss. But when he pulled away, his eyes had dilated black and the desire I saw in them took my breath away. My pulse sped up and my lips parted slightly. He leaned his head back down and touched his lips to mine again. His lips were pillow soft and almost tickled mine as they brushed together, once, twice, three times. This time, when Ranger pulled his mouth away from mine, I followed and closed my lips over his own, but no where near as gently as his had treated mine.

All the passion that had building up inside me all evening was expressed in that kiss. My body turned itself toward Ranger's, and without any conscious thought, I realized that one of my legs was now straddling his own as I pressed myself up against his thigh.

I heard Ranger groan deep in the back of his throat, and his hand fisted itself in the hair at the nape of my neck, a gesture that had all the curls there breaking loose from the French twist they were in, and streaming down over my shoulders.

Ranger pulled me fully into his lap so my dress was bunched up around my thighs as my legs straddled his waist. He still had one hand on my neck, pulling me into him as though he wanted to physically absorb my body, and I felt the other sliding its way up from my waist, up my torso, and finding my breast. My eyes rolled back in my head as I felt his fingers unerringly find my nippled and begin stroking it through my dress. I pressed myself even more closely to him and heard him groan again.

And then he stopped everything.

"Babe," he said, his voice husky and his breathing erratic. "We need to stop."

I had my lips on his neck and was making my way down to his collar. I was about to ask him why, when the opportunity to feel his skin next to mine, and the opportunity to experience another Ranger-induced orgasm seemed like such a good idea, when it finally occurred to me why it all might be a bad idea.

I scrambled off his lap and across the backseat to the opposite bank of seats. "Shit," I said, finally remembering Morelli.

I flushed in embarrassment and looked down at my hands in my lap. I couldn't bring myself to look him in the eye.

"I am so sorry," I said.

Ranger moved across the backseat to sit next to me again. I kept my hands firmly in my lap so I wouldn't be tempted to use them on him again.

"Don't ever be sorry about that, Babe. The only reason I stopped us is because I don't want you left with any feelings of guilt. Don't ever think it was because I don't want to feel your body under mine, feel your body under my lips, your hands on my skin."

I scooted over, away from him, on the seat. "Maybe I had better sit over here, alone, in my corner."

This earned me a wolf grin just as his cell phone rang.

He answered it with the smile still on his face and his standard, "Yo," but whatever it was that he was hearing had the smile slipping away quickly. He listened for about thirty seconds and then said, "We're about eight minutes out," and hung up.

When he looked back at me, his expression was less than pleased.

"We have company at the apartment," he said.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Thanks again for reading the chapter. I hope you are all still enjoying the story._

_-- Josie_


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Your comments keep me wanting to write so thanks again! Also, huge thanks to Christie (MagnificentSin) for all of her help and ideas. If you haven't read her stories, you really need to check them out. _

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. _

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 6_

Ranger and I rode up to the seventh floor apartment at Haywood in silence. He stood on his side of the elevator and I stood on mine, both of us staring straight ahead into the mirrored doors. It went unspoken but we both understood that Joe was upstairs waiting and that it would create less of a scene if he didn't have to see me touching a man other than him, especially when that other man was Ranger.

Ranger unlocked the door to his apartment and it swung open to the view of Joe sitting at the dining room table, a gym bag lying on the floor at this feet. Tank was seated on another chair at the table, his arms crossed over his massive chest as he focused his glare on the other man. Based on the expression on his face, Joe wasn't any happier.

"Why did you bring him up here?" Ranger asked Tank, his eyes locked on Joe. His voice was low and controlled, but there was an unmistakable hint of anger in it. I was tempted to sidle around the corner to the kitchen in hopes of being out of the line of fire, but Joe chose that moment to bring his attention to me, pinning me with a look.

"Hi Cupcake. I thought you might come back here tonight. I heard about your 'engagement.' Congratulations." The sarcasm dripped from his voice and ratcheted up the already high tension level in the room by about twenty more degrees. He was trying to hide it, but I could tell Joe was hurt.

"We were still on our way from the convention center when Tank called to say you were here, Joe," I said, exchanging a careful look with Ranger.

Joe got up from his chair and walked over to me to give me a hug. He held me tighter than usual, his posture rigid, "So you weren't coming back here to sleep tonight?"

My eyes locked with Ranger's over Joe's shoulder. A beat went by before I pulled out of the embrace and said, "We were just talking about that when you called. We were discussing what everyone would expect from a newly engaged couple." I intentionally left off the phrase "that is in love" because I didn't think it would help to keep Joe calm at all.

Joe closed his eyes for a moment. His back was to Ranger and Tank but something in his posture must have let on that he was trying to calm himself down because neither man said anything or made any noise at all.

"Okay," Joe finally said, giving me a look. "You're right. People would definitely notice if the two of you got engaged but didn't spend tonight together _celebrating_."

"And what are they going to think about her ex showing up at Rangeman that same night?" Ranger asked.

"Well, _had_ anyone seen me come here, they'd probably think that I was coming to offer my congratulations to a friend. Or that I was coming to ream out the woman I just broke up with yesterday who is now engaged to another man today."

Even Ranger's lips curved in a small smile at that comment.

"Besides," Joe continued, "I made sure to park about six blocks away from the building, next to a motel, and that no one followed me over or saw me come in. If anyone identifies my vehicle they'll just assume I'm doing my best to move on after a bad break up."

Ranger nodded like he was satisfied at that and I chose to leave the comment alone in favour of keeping the peace rather than demand why seeing Joe's SUV in front of a motel wouldn't be considered abnormal.

Tank spoke up, his deep voice rumbling, "He showed up at the garage gate and threatened to make a lot of noise at Pino's about the suddenness of the engagement if we didn't let him in."

I felt my eyes narrow as I looked at Joe. "You would do that? You'd mess everything up just so you could come and yell at me about this?"

"It wasn't about yelling at you, Stephanie. I had to hear about your engagement tonight from someone else. Hell, I heard it from every person that walked by me, could call me, or could send smoke signals across the city, that the woman I had thought I was going to marry was now engaged to another man. I knew the announcement would be coming soon but I wasn't expecting it to be this soon."

"What did you tell people?" Ranger wanted to know.

Joe's expression wasn't friendly as he looked at Ranger. "That it never would have worked between us so we both knew it was time to move on." Joe's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, "I couldn't quite bring myself to sing your praises."

"Probably for the best," Tank said. "No one would believe it, coming from you."

I walked into the living room and sat down on the couch. The other three men followed me in, but none of them, not even Tank, was willing to sit next to me and potentially start a war with the others. Ranger sat in one of the leather club chairs and Joe took the other on the opposite side of the room while Tank leaned against the wall in between the other two men. You would be hard-pressed to convince me Tank's position wasn't strategic.

"So," I said quietly, my voice disturbing the sudden peace. I was trying to think of a nice way to ask what I wanted to know, but in the end the only think I could come up with was exactly what I wanted to know so I blurted out, "Why are you here, Joe?"

He closed his eyes for a moment, leaning back against the soft leather. His hair was getting shaggy again, like it so often was, but I didn't find myself as tempted to brush it to the side as I usually was.

"I just needed to see you. It was a long, upsetting day for me and I wanted to see my girlfriend."

I would have liked to take the comment at face value, but I knew him enough to know that there was a whole lot of strategy on the go at the moment in that one little comment. Ranger's hands tensed a little where they rested on the chair's armrests, gripping the leather hard enough to leave imprints when he released his hold and flexed his fingers again, his reaction showing that he had understood the not-too-subtle underlying message as well.

"I can understand that," Ranger responded. His tone was as calm and mild as the expression in his eyes was hard. "But in the future it may be a better idea to just call if you need to talk to Steph. At least until my fiancé and I have had a chance to attend a few more functions and get our relationship status firmly established in the minds of every person in the Burg and Trenton proper."

Joe's entire body went still, the vein in his temple starting to pop out and throb. Even if it wasn't obvious to everyone else in the room, it was obvious to me that the comment went straight to the heart of the issue and Joe was letting on that it wasn't okay with him at all.

Tank leaned his massive body forward slightly in case he had to do an interception and I spoke up before Joe had the chance to respond.

"Okay, I think that's enough socializing for today. I'm wiped from the party tonight and need to get to bed before I fall down, so you boys are going to need to vacate the room so I can get myself ready for bed."

"Where exactly are you sleeping tonight?" Joe asked, locking eyes with me. He got points for not sounding as pissed off as he looked.

I patted the seat of the couch next to me. "You're looking at it."

Joe grinned. I had seen this smile on his face before and it could only be described as smug and not reassuring at all. "I'll admit it's a pretty big couch, but it's still going to be a little cramped with the two of us on that couch, Cupcake."

Tank leaned even further forward, but this time I knew it was to be able to stop Ranger should he decide to react to Joe's statement.

"What are you talking about, Joe?" I knew I wasn't going to be comfortable with whatever he said, but it seemed best to get it all out in the open.

"I've decided that I'm going to stay here with you. In the apartment. At least, I will be as long as you are. If you decide to stop _celebrating_ and go back to your apartment, I think it should be okay for me to head back home, too."

Rather than leaning forward in an aggressive stance, or getting out of his chair, Ranger did the unexpected and leaned back as though to get more comfortable. His posture was still ramrod straight, his expression foreboding, but unless you knew him, you wouldn't see it and would think he was relaxed. His words belied that.

"You need an invitation to come into my apartment, Morelli. So far, I've tolerated your presence here because Steph cares about you and I don't want to upset her, but that is the extent of my willingness to tolerate you. There is no chance of you staying here in my home. You said that you trust Stephanie. Now it's time to prove it."

I felt horrible because so far I hadn't given Joe any reason to trust me. I had been straddling Ranger's lap on the car ride home just this evening. _But you stopped yourself from doing anything more than kissing him_, the little voice in my head answered me. I wanted to believe that the little voice was that of my conscience, versus other, less reassuring possibilities for characters who might be sitting on my shoulder.

"Joe, Ranger's right. You told me just yesterday that you trust me to be here and acting like Ranger's fiancé."

Joe gave Ranger a hard look. "It's not you that I don't trust."

Ranger looked more amused than pissed off. I started praying that he didn't say anything to Joe about how whatever happens between us would always be consensual. That would create a lot more questions and problems than it would solve. Ranger caught my eye and the corner of his lips raised in a small grin as though he knew what I was thinking. I felt my heart start to race.

But instead of causing more problems, Ranger's words reassured me. "You're right not to trust me, Morelli. But you're doing Steph a huge disservice by not trusting her. And that's exactly what you're demonstrating right now by being here – that you don't trust her."

Tank was watching the proceedings with a cautious expression on his face. I guessed that he was as uncomfortable with everything as I was, but he seemed to be hiding it better. I decided I needed to try to bring the tension level down a bit before it deteriorated any more.

"Joe, even if you did need to be here to protect my virtue, there isn't enough room on the couch for the two of us to sleep."

"Fine. Then Ranger can give us the bed and he can take the couch," he said, my appeal to logic apparently failing horribly.

You could have heard a pin drop three floors below us. I guessed that Ranger was practicing some kind of Zen, deep breathing exercises, although I couldn't see his chest rising or falling at all, because he was still seated and didn't have Joe raised off the ground by his throat. But one look in his dark eyes showed that the temptation was still there.

Tank's eyes were scanning the room for the first sign of movement from any of us, his muscles tensed and ready to help him to leap between them if need be. Joe was looking as tense as the other two men, torn between satisfaction at being able to call Ranger on his actions toward me, and caution at the reaction the other man might have at being called out.

For my own purposes, I was modeling Tank, not because I wanted to be able to intervene, but because I knew I would need to get out of the way if anyone else made a move.

I heard the refrigerator turn on in the kitchen and a clock ticking from another room. The silence spanned a few more moments before Ranger decided to break it.

"Not happening," he said quietly, his voice brooking no argument. I was surprised his knuckles weren't white from how hard he was clenching his fists.

"It's the logical suggestion. I'm not leaving and there's no chance that Stephanie is going to share the bed with you, and she says the couch is too small for the two of us."

"Maybe the two of you should share the bed," Tank said, indicating Ranger and Joe, his voice showing how annoyed he was with the situation.

I smiled for the first time since we'd arrived. "That seems fair. Then I could take the couch," I said, knowing full well there was no chance of that happening.

"I don't think so," Joe said, his lip curling in disgust.

I turned my attention to Ranger. "I guess that leaves just one option."

"Calling off this entire charade and coming home with me?" Joe offered hopefully.

"No," I gave him a look that said quite eloquently that I wasn't happy with his suggestion. "Are there any apartments open on the fourth floor?" I asked Ranger.

He nodded slightly but didn't otherwise respond; however, he did take out his cell phone and make a call. He told whoever it was that answered to ask Ella make up the free apartment for me, so I guessed the call was to someone in the control room and that we once again had a plan.

"All right, that's all settled," I said, standing up and dusting my hands. "I would walk you down to the garage, Joe, but since you're not supposed to be here and I have a way of attracting unwanted attention, it's probably best if we just say good-night right here."

"No need," Joe said, unzipping his duffel bag and pulling out some sweats and a clean t-shirt. "Now that the couch is free, I guess I'll just take it for myself."

Ranger and Tank both tensed up again and I said, "Huh?" I was legitimately confused.

"You're staying downstairs, but that doesn't mean Ranger can't come down, too. I'm camping out on the couch."

I felt my eyes narrow and I knew I looked as unhappy as I was feeling. "We go through all of this and you still don't trust me not to cheat on you?"

"Like I said before, Cupcake. It's not you I don't trust. It's him," he jerked his thumb in Ranger's direction.

"You know what, Joe? Right about now, it's feeling like you don't trust either one of us." I said. I walked into Ranger's bedroom and slammed the door behind me as I began to prepare, in peace, everything I needed to take downstairs with me.


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. _

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 7_

Ranger followed me into his bedroom but stood back as I rifled his closet looking for one of the uniforms I knew he kept there for me. It was funny, but I hadn't thought to consider the fact that I didn't have a change of clothes until after I had announced to Joe that I would be sleeping on the couch. It made me wonder what I would have done otherwise.  
Would Ranger and I have gone back to my apartment so I could pick up a change of clothes and something to wear to bed before heading back to Haywood? Somehow, given what had been happening in the backseat, I didn't think that was where the night was headed

_No,_ the little voice in my head whispered back, _you stopped anything major from happening in the car tonight. You weren't going to let things go any further._

_Yeah, right,_ another, far less angelic whispered. _If Tank hadn't called just then, you would have happily followed Ranger home just as you were, and dealt with the consequences in the morning._

_And worn what to bed?_ I questioned myself.

_Exactly,_ that same mischievous voice answered.

I shook my head to clear my wayward thoughts and jumped as Ranger's broad arm wrapped around me from behind to help me lift my cargos and Rangeman shirt from the shelf.

"Looked like you were stuck there, Babe." Ranger's voice was soft in my ear, his breath hot against my neck as he spoke. The caress of air when he breathed caused a shiver to run down the length of my back.

I turned around and saw him smiling down at me, and only then did I realize just how close his body was to mine. It was more than a little distracting.

"I can make Morelli leave if that's what you want." He reached out to tuck a curl behind my ear, his hand lingering against my skin and causing my entire body to flush from even that brief touch.

I couldn't back away from him without finding myself lost between the clothes hangers, but to be truthful I was enjoying being so close to him. Any temptation to get away was based only my desire not to cause even more problems by throwing myself at Ranger and wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his body. I felt myself getting distracted by that line of thought and cleared my throat.

"It's probably best if I just go sleep in one of the apartments. Joe's right when he said that he could make a lot of problems for you about this if he wants to. It's easiest if we just let this go. I'll deal with it more in the morning."

The look on Ranger's face suggested that he wanted to say something about that, but he refrained and took a step back so I had enough room to pass around him. I was almost out of the walk-in closet when Ranger put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me again.

"You're going to need something to sleep in." His voice was soft in my ear as he reached over my shoulder and put one of his over-sized t-shirts on top of my pile of clothes.

I made a pit stop in his bathroom under the pretense of grabbing an extra toothbrush when in reality I just needed an extra moment to get my imagination back in line. I stood there with my hands braced on the counter for a moment, until my knees felt steady again, and then went to face the bear.

Joe was still sitting in one of the club chairs when I exited the bedroom. He didn't look relaxed to begin with and when he saw me he glared. "Took you long enough in there, Cupcake."

His eyes narrowed even more as he focused in on the bundle in my arms.

"What the hell is that?" he demanded.

"Nothing you haven't seen before," I replied calmly, ignoring Ranger's t-shirt on top of the pile. I didn't stop walking, but continued on my path toward the front door. "You know that I have a Rangeman uniform. Ranger keeps it in his apartment so Tank doesn't decide to try it on for himself."

The man in question popped his head out of the kitchen from where he had been getting a snack. There was an unholy grin on his face, but he didn't otherwise respond.

"Cupcake," Joe began again from behind me. He sounded contrite and so this time I did stop and turn back to face him. Ranger was leaning against the doorjamb to his bedroom, looking relaxed, watching the situation unfold. Joe, on the other hand, and unlike his voice had suggested, looked like he was ready to erupt and start yelling at any moment.

"Joe, I don't want to fight about this anymore. I'm going down to the apartment for tonight so we all have time to calm down and relax, and tomorrow we can talk about this more. I can tell you right now, I'm not going to put up with you questioning my every action while Ranger and I are working on this."

"There wouldn't be a problem between us at all if you would just call off the engagement." Joe's expression was hopeful.

I felt my anger really start to rise for the first time since the situation had started. I could feel my eyes narrowing and the temptation to put my hands on my hips and face off against Joe was great, but I didn't want to do it. I wanted to keep control of my emotions and not let Joe's demands get to me. And I had been doing great about staying in control up until then. There was a slight possibility that Ranger's kisses had mellowed me out to the point that I couldn't react and that I was only getting angry now because they had worn off, but I kept that thought to myself.

I saw Ranger smile across the room. I knew he had followed my line of thought and it was enough to make me want to laugh at myself, which calmed me back down again.

"Joe, it hasn't even been two days since you said you understood why I had to do this and already you're trying to back out of it. I've been quiet, and I think that I've been pretty understanding about what you must be feeling and experiencing, but you need to know that I'm going to go through this charade no matter what you say. I promised Ranger that I would. And even if I didn't feel like I owe him, I would do this because he's my friend and I always try to help out my friends. If you can't respect that, then you don't respect me." I was almost in tears by the end of my speech, but Joe's expression wasn't looking any more forgiving.

I stopped to take a shuddery breath before continuing. "If you don't respect me, then maybe we don't have anything else to talk about. At all."

I turned around to walk out, feeling the tears already burning at the back of my eyes. I didn't want to stay for even a second longer and chance Joe trying to continue this fight. Not in front of Ranger. It was one thing for Joe to show how little he respected me when we were alone. It would be absolutely humiliating if he did it in front of one of my best friends.

I was almost at the door when Joe spoke again. "Cupcake, I–"

"Not tonight, Joe." My voice was almost a whisper as I tried to force back the tears again. "If you can start understanding where I'm coming from, we'll talk about this more tomorrow. If you can't, then it's probably best that you just leave and go home."

Tank placed his hand hand on my forearm as I started to go. "Do you want me to walk you down?" he asked, concern clear in his eyes.

I gave him a watery smile and shook my head no before letting myself out of the apartment. I took care to shut the door very carefully behind me, not slamming it, and managed to make it down to the fourth floor suite before caving in to the tears that had been threatening me. They were streaming down my cheeks, but I found that I wasn't so much upset as I was disappointed.

I quickly wiped them away, telling myself that things would be better in the morning. I brushed my teeth and changed into the t-shirt Ranger had given me to sleep in. The scent of his Bulgari shower gel lingered on the material and it braced me better than my mental pep talk had done. As I laid in the bed, waiting for sleep to overcome me, I had two thoughts. The first was that I didn't have any clean underwear for the morning. I was definitely going to have to head home before going anywhere else for the day. The second was that I was very glad to have left the apartment when I did because the expression on Tank's face as he had looked at Joe while asking me if I wanted an escort could only be described as murderous. I was just mad enough at Joe that night to take a little comfort in it.

- - -

I woke the next morning on sheets much softer than my own ever were and immediately remembered the events of the night before. As I laid there, the sheets were so comfortable I was tempted to let the fight with Joe go, but the lingering unhappiness created by the fight had haunted my dreams all night. My restless sleep made it hard for me to want to just kiss and make up.

A glance at the clock told me it was just shortly after six in the morning and I knew I could further thank the fight for my disturbed sleep patterns. It didn't make me feel any more charitable toward Joe to know I was awake at this ungodly hour because of him. I tried falling back to sleep a couple of times, but it was obvious that I was wide awake.

My stomach rumbled as I made my way to the bathroom so I took a quick detour into the little kitchenette of the apartment. The cupboards were well-stocked with dishes, but didn't contain any food. The fridge was empty except for the light bulb and a box of baking soda in the back. I figured that I had two options: either go up to Ranger's apartment and raid his fridge, or stall seeing the two men for a bit and go find breakfast elsewhere, outside the building. I didn't have a vehicle so that cleared up my decision very quickly for me.

When Ranger had told whomever he spoke to the night before to have Ella get the apartment ready for me, I had thought that meant putting out clean linens on the bed and in the bathroom. A look in the shower told me that I hadn't thought it through entirely. Bottles of my brand of shampoo and conditioner sat on a shelf next to a pink razor. I was impressed by their attention to detail, but it was the bottle of Ranger's Bulgari shower gel next to the other items that made me smile. Someone knew me and my secret addictions well.

I showered quickly and towel-dried my hair enough to hopefully keep the curls under control for the day. Finally dressed, I went down the hall and summoned the elevator. I didn't have the key fob Ranger had given me, but I hoped one of the men in the control room would seem me and let me up to his apartment. That turned out not to be necessary when the elevator doors opened to display Ranger, dressed in his running shorts and a tight black tank, a sheen of sweat still covering his face and shoulders.

I must have stood there, staring for a while, because Ranger eventually said, "Going up?" There was a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

I climbed in and the doors slid closed. We were on our way up before Ranger spoke again.

"You up for your first task as an engaged woman?"

Joe was probably still asleep up in Ranger's apartment so I knew what the first task would _not _involve.

"I've got a dinner meeting in New York this evening with Don Hamilton, the CEO of the company I'm trying to get the contract with. He e-mailed last night and invited you to join us."

"Good news travels fast."

"In this business, it does."

"Sure, of course I can come." He smiled in response and I found my focus on the conversation dwindling in favour of gazing rapturously at his smile, so I fumbled to bring it back. "I mean, that's what this is all about, right? Convincing everyone that we're a couple and are going to live happily ever after?"

He leaned down and placed a kiss on my hair. "Thanks, babe. I appreciate you playing along with this."

It wasn't nearly as hard as he might have imagined it to be. At least, not in some ways. In other ways, it was becoming harder and harder to keep myself detached and focused on the fact that it was all just us pretending for the sake of the job. "You keep saying that you appreciate my help with this all. Honestly, it's not a big deal. And I'm really not doing all that much."

He put his hand on my cheek and his thumb stroked across the skin. "It's a big deal to me." He was looking deep into my eyes and I felt my pulse speed up even as my breath caught in my chest. I think he was about to lean down to kiss me when the doors opened with a bing, breaking the moment.

Ranger stepped back with a sigh and I found myself squelching a sigh of my own.

He cleared his throat. "Feel free to go out and buy something to wear tonight. Something dressy because we'll probably be going to a nice restaurant and I want the both of us to dress to impress. See Tank before you go and I'll have him give you a Rangeman credit card. It's a business expense so you shouldn't be paying for any of your clothes out of pocket."

"Well, see? Even if I weren't doing this because you're my friend, I would be doing it for all the new clothes you keep letting me buy."

_Or you could be doing it because you love having any excuse to be close to him that you can find,_ that persistent little voice from earlier suggested.

Ranger and I were still laughing about my upcoming shopping spree as he opened the door to his apartment. I don't know if Ranger was expecting it, but Joe was seated at the breakfast bar, an empty bowl in front of him. Although the look in Joe's eyes said that he was pissed to see the two of us having as much fun as we were, he didn't comment on it.

He stood up, bowl in hand, and made his way past us to the kitchen, stopping just long enough to brush a kiss across my lips with a murmured, "Good morning, Cupcake."

When I looked at Ranger, his face was blank. He set his keys down in their little bowl and shut himself into his bedroom.

"I have to get running," Joe said, reaching into his duffel bag before attaching his shield to his belt and putting his gun into the back of his pants. "What time is dinner?"

I was tempted to laugh at his presumptuousness. "Ranger and I have a business dinner we're going to. We won't be here."

"What time will you be back, then, so I know what time to show up."

"Joe," my voice showed how exasperated I was feeling. "None of this is necessary. Ranger's relationship with me is completely platonic."

He stepped up so he was directly in front of me. "If you believe that, Cupcake, then you need to open your eyes."

I shook my head. "There's nothing there. Ranger told me so himself. You have nothing to worry about because he doesn't want a relationship with me." I fought to hide how unhappy that thought made me. I was still coming to terms with it myself; I didn't need Joe knowing that it upset me on top of that.

"And what about your virtue?"

I laughed. "What about it?"

"Is your virtue safe, too?"

"That's a pretty ironic question coming from the man who took my virtue on the floor of a store when I was sixteen."

He glared at me and stepped even closer so that he was right in my personal space. Normally being that close to Joe would feel romantic. At that moment it just felt like he was trying to threaten me, and I didn't appreciate it at all. "You know what I'm talking about," he said.

"Actually, I have no idea what you're talking about. And I think that between the two of you, right now Ranger's the one who is showing me a whole lot more respect. Maybe you need to give that some thought."

Joe looked for a moment like he was going to physically react that my accusation, but instead he abruptly turned around and slammed out of the apartment. I let out the breath I hadn't realized I had been holding and stood there, staring at the door he had walked out of.

Ranger walked past me and threw the bolt on the door while pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Morelli's on his way down. Make sure he exits the building and then close the gates."

He turned to me and grasped my arms, his thumbs stroking rhythmically over my skin. "You all right, babe?"

I felt a shiver, and it wasn't related to what had just happened with Joe. "Yeah," I said, stepping back. Every time I had gotten close to Ranger lately, I was tempted to throw myself at him. I didn't think it was a good idea to tempt fate just then by allowing myself the contact. "I'll be fine after I get something to eat and go shop for a few hours. I have a mission," I added, a brave smile on my face.

Ranger's response was to smile down at me. "Go find yourself some happy, babe. You deserve it."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Please review and tell me your thoughts. Good, bad, otherwise, I would love to know what you think about this chapter and the story in general._

_Thanks! -Josie_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. Special thanks to Veronica for reading this over for me._

_A/N: I'm sorry it has been such a long time since I've posted. Summer was crazy with sick kids, vacations, and then some more sick kids. I promise to try to do better at posting regularly! - Josie_

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 8_

I spent the day at Quakerbridge Mall making the sales people as nuts as I was feeling. I was extremely nervous about the dinner that evening, and it was translating into the most stressful shopping trip I had experienced in a long time. Every dress shop I went into followed the same pattern. I would tell the salesperson my size even as I walked back to the dressing rooms with instructions for them to "keep the dresses coming." I didn't even want to consider what my shoe shopping experience was going to look like.

My cell phone rang at around one o'clock when I was in the middle of trying on a champagne-colored, drape-necked gown that I thought might finally be "the one." Marcel, the manager of Macy's and finder of the dress, reached into my purse and grabbed the phone for me so I wouldn't have to try bending over. He and I had been on a first name basis ever since he steeped in to replace the three salespeople who were trying to help me beforehand. I had been tempted to kiss him in response. All he had said to them was, "The three of you have the taste of a flea market diva. You don't know what you're doing here. Get out before I have to slap you all" and sent them off, running.

He pressed Talk on the phone before handing over to me.

"Hello?" I said distractedly, still looking at my back in the reflection of the mirror. The dress draped over my shoulders and was cut so low at the waist that it dipped almost below the line of my hips, and I wasn't sure I could pull it off.

Marcel slapped my hand, "Stop fussing! You look fabulous."

"Babe?" Ranger said. "How's the shopping going?"

"Ranger! Good. Finally, it's going good. I think I've finally found a dress." I could see Marcel gesturing at one of the people in the shoe section, indicating for them to bring over a pair to match the dress.

"Who's that with you?" Ranger asked innocently.

I was tempted to laugh, but I knew I would have been wondering, if not asking the same thing, if I had heard a female voice in the background with him. Not that I had any right to be jealous. It would just be curiosity, of course.

"That's Marcel. He's the manager of Macy's and an absolute godsend. He's the one that found my dress. I had been starting to think would have to wear a curtain."

"The toga-Goddess look is very _in _right now, actually," Marcel whispered.

"So are you coming home soon?" Ranger sounded amused.

"I still have to find shoes–"

"No, you don't," Marcel cut in. "I have the perfect pair for you so we've got that all taken care of."

"And maybe some accessories to go with the dress. Jewelry and stuff."

"What color is the dress?" Ranger asked.

"Pardon?" Ranger asking about dress colors? Was this a sign of the world's end?

"Humor me. What color?"

"It's called champagne. It's kind of a–"

"I'm familiar with it. Don't worry about accessories," he said. "I've got the jewelry covered. And Marcel said he has the shoes covered, right?"

I stopped turning around in front of the mirror to check myself out so I could focus on what he had said. I wasn't sure how to respond to the idea that Ranger had already picked out some jewelry for me to wear that night during the masquerade for his client. I was torn between feeling freaked out and really happy, so I just said, "Thank you."

"Not a problem. How soon will you be back?"

"Maybe an hour? No more than that, anyway. I'll need to get ... stuff to go under the dress," I said quietly, preferring not to discuss my lingerie with Ranger over the phone. Particularly when we had an audience.

"Too bad I'm not there. I could help you with that selection, too."

I felt my skin flush at the idea of being alone with Ranger in the Victoria's Secret dressing room. I shook my head to clear the mental images when I saw Marcel raise one of this carefully plucked eyebrows in question.

"I have to go," I told Ranger, my voice breathy. "I'll see you in a bit." I disconnected before he could say anything that might make me overheat any more than I already was. Probably that had qualified as hanging up on Ranger, but I would worry about that later.

"I think I'm jealous of you," Marcel said as he put the phone back int my purse.

"Why's that?" I was already stepping into the change room to get dressed in my street clothes and didn't see the catlike smile that crossed his face.

"Because you have a man in your life who you obviously are head over heels over. And who makes you look that happy just by calling you on the phone. I only wish I was that lucky. Mind you, if I had a man at home that made me look like that with only a phone call, I wouldn't be buying anything to cover up my body. I might be out buying some nice chocolate body paint to put on it, but certainly not clothes. In fact, I'd be spending all day making sure he didn't cover up his, either."

- - - - -

Dinner with the CEO went very well. Don Hamilton brought his wife along, and both of them were well-educated, smart people who were also funny as hell. I couldn't stop laughing throughout the entire meal. The whole night was wonderful, in fact. Ranger sat by my side throughout dinner, and whenever his right hand was free, he had it wrapped around my shoulders or he would stroke one of his fingers along the bare skin of my back, playing with curls at the nape of my neck. I was in a constant state of arousal through the entire meal and had to excuse myself to the bathroom a few times just to have time to calm down. Not that it helped much since as soon as I got back to the table each time, he would start winding me up all over again. I was pretty sure he was going to have to lock himself in the bathroom at his apartment to keep me from jumping him.

When we were getting ready to leave the restaurant, though, Ranger's cell rang. He stepped away to take the call and when he returned he didn't look like the relaxed man he had been throughout the rest of the meal. I think that only I could see the stress he was holding in his shoulders, but it radiated to me and I had to fight the urge to pat his back in comfort.

I gave him a look that asked if everything was all right and he responded with a small tilt of his head that from him spoke volumes. The entire world could declare war and if you asked Ranger if he thought we were screwed, he'd probably still give that same small head tilt.

Ranger placed my wrap around my shoulders when we reached the door to the restaurant and I watched as Don did the same for his wife, Linda.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Stephanie," Don said with a smile. "I never believed I would meet a woman who could stand up to Carlos Manoso, but he has obviously found one. I hope we'll be invited to the wedding."

I blushed and hoped that he wrote it off as a result of the compliment, but in reality I was feeling bad about my part in the deception. Linda had told me over the course of the meal that they had been married for twenty-five years, and was sure that Ranger and I would celebrate that anniversary together, as well as many more, given how well-suited we were for each other.

I finally found my voice and said, "I would like that." The answer was as honest as it was noncommittal.

Linda leaned forward and gave me a hug. "I'm going to make certain Don hires your husband's company just so we have an excuse to see each other all the time in those 'security briefings.' I'm convinced that those are just an excuse to get together and go golfing or socialize," she said happily, with a smile at her husband. She turned back to me and gave me a huge smile, too. "I really enjoyed meeting you, Stephanie."

I gave her another with an extra tight squeeze that was probably a result of the guilt I was feeling. Ranger held out his hand for mine and the ambient light in the room caught the sparkle of my jewelry.

"Oh! Let me see that one more time before you go," Linda insisted as she took my wrist and pulled my hand from Ranger's. My ring finger now supported a large diamond solitaire that was set off by alternating diamonds and sapphires that circled the ring's band. It sparkled again as the light caught it once more and I thought it might be bright enough to blind. The sapphires in the ring were identical in color and cut to those that were in the bracelet and necklace, a matching set, of course, that Ranger had presented me to wear with my dress. The mercenary man had been concerned that my dress color might clash with the jewelry he had picked out.

"This is such a beautiful ring," Linda gushed. "In fact, I love all your jewelry. You know your man loves you and is a keeper when he likes to spoil you," she said with authority.

We finished saying our good nights and Ranger held the door open for me. He kept his hand in the small of my back as we made our way to the Porsche, and only removed it in order to assist me inside the car. I settled back in the leather seat, with my head against the rest, and closed my eyes.

We were all the way outside the city before Ranger spoke and broke the silence. "That went well."

I opened my eyes and turned in my seat so I could look at him. "It went very well. If Linda has anything to say about it, Don's going to be signing with Rangeman first thing in the morning."

He lifted my hand to his mouth and placed a kiss on the inside of my wrist. "I have you to thank for that."

"I pulled my hand back from him and folded them in my lap. I needed to remain focused, no matter how much I longed to give in to my feelings and desires. Even though I was mad at Joe, I couldn't completely forget that we were still involved.

"You don't need to thank me. I was happy to help." I paused for a moment, trying to work out how to say what I was thinking. "I think that I may have complicated the situation since Linda's going to want to see how you and the 'little woman' are doing every once in a while. Also, with that whole invitation to our wedding thing? How are you going to deal with that? I guess you could say we're having an extremely extended engagement, and then ..."

Ranger picked up my hand again and this time placed a kiss on my palm. It quietened me down right away.

"Don't worry about it. It will all work out," he said before refocusing on the road. He didn't release my hand from his own, however.

The silence in the car allowed my mind to start whirling with worries and concerns again so I found myself trying to grasp on to some other thought – any other thought! – just so I could stop stressing and start enjoying the evening again. We had just entered the Trenton city limits when I thought of something. "Who was on the phone?"

"Tank. We had an attempted break-in on one of our accounts, but they weren't able to get past our security. Tank went over to review the tapes with the cops. I'm going to have to head over there myself after I drop you off."

"Are you taking me to my apartment?"

He stroked his thumb over the back of my hand for a moment before answering. "I thought you agreed it was best if you stayed at Rangeman. For appearances," he added.

I swallowed hard against the lust rising up inside me and said, "Yeah, right. That would be for the best, right?"

He stroked the back of my hand a few more times and the sensation sent tingles all the way up my arm and throughout the rest of my body.

"You could stay on the seventh floor tonight." His voice was low and husky and it made me shiver. Or maybe it was a shiver of anticipation.

Ranger looked over and caught my eyes with his own. His gaze was heated and made the temperature inside the car spike.

I swallowed hard again and asked the question that needed to be said. "What about your roomie, Joe?"

"Tank said he didn't come back to Rangeman tonight." He stroked my hand once more and looked deep into my eyes. "Stay with me, Stephanie. Nothing has to happen, just stay with me."

I was mesmerized by his dark eyes and I felt myself give a long, slow nod in consent. Something sparked behind his eyes for a moment before he turned attention back to the road.

Ranger finished navigating the streets of Trenton and pulled into the garage on Haywood and then into his parking spot next to the elevator. He put the e-brake on and turned in his seat so he could reach over and gently undo my seatbelt. His hand stayed to linger on my waist and I could feel the heat of him through the material of my dress.

I looked up and found him watching me intently. If I had thought the interior of the car was heated before, I had been wrong. Even just the look he was giving me had the potential to steam the windows.

He leaned forward just slightly and it brought his lips just inches away from my own. He tilted his head slightly and somehow it brought our lips even closer together, but he didn't close the distance. It was like he was waiting for me to do that. I took a moment to breathe deeply, and then I did.

As always, his lips were soft against mine. At first we just shared small kisses, almost like we were tasting and sampling each other's lips. Little nips and pecks against each other's lips, kisses that quickly grew to longer, hotter kisses. I felt Ranger's hand bury itself in the hair at the nape of my neck and I leaned forward enough that my chest was brushing against his own. He tightened his grasp on the back of my head and the kiss heated up another notch. My tongue began to explore his and I heard him give a guttural moan at th back of his throat. I slid my hands up the front of his shirt and had just made contact with his nipples when Ranger pulled away.

He was breathing as hard as I was, his chest rapidly rising and falling as he fought to get control. I followed the direction of his gaze and realized that one of the arms of my dress had slipped down my shoulder and I was currently flashing Ranger the entire side of my breast.

"Oh," I said, blushing furiously. I tried to slide the sleeve back up, but it only resulted in the other side sliding down so that I was suddenly sitting in the front seat of the Porsche, my upper body completely naked.

"Babe," Ranger groaned. I blushed even harder and started fumbling to slide the sleeves back up when Ranger put his hands on mine to still them. He took the material from my fingers and slowly slid it up my arms, and over my shoulders. He left his hands on my shoulders and leaned forward to rest his forehead against my own.

"You have no idea what you do to me, babe."

We sat there like that for a moment, just breathing together, and then Ranger pulled away enough to give me a kiss on my cheek.

"I have to get over to Tank before he sends someone to check on me." He laughed quietly. "As it is, we've probably got the entire control room wondering what was going on in here."  
He must have seen my eyes widen at that because he added, "Don't worry, babe. They can't see inside the car from this angle."

Ranger gave me another quick kiss, this time on my lips, before pulling back entirely. "Are you still going to be on seven when I get back?"

I blushed slightly but smiled. "Yeah, I'll be there."

"Good," he said before kissing me again, and there was nothing quick about this one. It was the full meal deal and almost had me feeling tempted to slide the straps of my dress down intentionally this time.

He pulled away and tipped his head back on his neck while taking a deep breath. He sat there in that position for a moment before giving another soft laugh and a shake of his head. He looked at me and said quietly, "What you do to me."

He climbed out of the car, more slowly than normal I noticed, and came around to open my door for me. He walked me over to the elevator and used his key fob to call the elevator down, waiting with me as it made its way. When it arrived, he guided me inside and gave me one last quick kiss. "I'll see you up there when I get back?"

I nodded with a smile and he stepped back to allow the doors of the elevator to close.

I rode up to the seventh floor with what I knew had to be a goofy smile on my face. A small niggling guilt about Joe tried to worm its way to the front of my mind, but I was feeling too good, too happy, for it to be able to do much damage.

The doors opened on the seventh floor and I stepped out. I used my own key to the apartment to let myself inside and took a moment to remove my shoes and put my keys and wrap down on the table by the door. It was only after I had done all of that, that I realized I could hear the shower was running in the bathroom.

I heard the water stop as I slowly made my way across the living room. I was almost at the door to the bathroom when it opened, causing me to jump back in fright. I was especially glad that the straps of my dress stayed up when I found myself looking at a gorgeous woman, dressed only in one of Ranger's towels.

She had long, glossy black hair, and equally dark eyes. She was a couple of inches shorter than me, but with a body that probably made mine look like that of a prepubescent boy. Her full, luscious lips parted at first in a smile, but then when she really looked me and realized I wasn't the person she was expecting, her lips pursed and her brow wrinkled in a frown.

"Who the hell are you," she demanded angrily.

I was so caught off guard by the appearance of another woman in Ranger's apartment that I didn't respond the way I normally would, and actually answered her question. "Uh, I'm Stephanie."

She jutted out her hip and managed to give the appearance of looking down her nose at me, even though I was probably a good three inches taller than her. "Never heard of you." She walked over to the coffee table and picked up the cordless phone sitting on it. "So, are you going to tell me what you're doing in Carlos's apartment, or do I need to call security?" she said.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_Please let me know what you think of the chapter. I promise to have the next chapter up as soon as possible! _

_Best wishes to Kate and her family. Kate, I hope your brother gets better soon! - Josie_


	9. Chapter 9

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. Special thanks to Veronica for beta-ing this for me again._

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 9_

I gave a good long look at the other woman and felt my inner bitch start to rise up. It's possible that my anger was due as much to the fact that there was another woman in Ranger's apartment, as to the fact that the other woman was threatening to call security or the police on me. But in the end it didn't really matter. Or, more accurately, in the end, I refused to think about the possibility of having to go up against the Merry Men or the TPD and I was just going to ride this anger wave for all that it was worth.

"Who am_ I_?" I demanded from her, "Who the hell are _you?_ You sure as hell must not know Carlos Manoso yourself if you think for even a second that someone he didn't want in his apartment would find a way to get in here."

She gave a sniff that anyone else might have thought was dainty. I just thought it further reinforced my idea that she was a complete cow. "I can assure you I have every right to be up here." Her tone suggested that the same couldn't be said for me.

"Who _are_ you?" I demanded again angrily. I could feel my eyes narrowing and I was fighting the desire to put my hands on my hips in standard pissed off Burg girl fashion. I needed Lula here with me to threaten this woman with her booty-bomb.

The woman touched her chest. "_I _am Maria Manoso."

The first thought that came to my mind was, _Oh no, not another wife!_ But then I realized that couldn't be the case.

"Carlos's _sister_," she added when I didn't say anything, and her expression was very smug. I could tell that she felt very satisfied at the fact that I didn't recognize the name of one of Ranger's sisters.

I knew that Ranger had one brother and four sisters, and that one of them was named Celia, but other than that we hadn't talked much about his family.

"He's never told you about me," she smirked, looking smugger than a woman that beautiful ever should. I could feel the flame of my anger dying under the unsaid accusation that Ranger hadn't trusted me enough to tell me his sibling's names, but I tried to fight back and hang on to the emotion.

"How did you get in here? Ranger doesn't give many people the key to his apartment." _Take that! _I thought and tried to hold back my grin at the fact that he had entrusted me with one.

She walked over to where she had dropped her purse onto the chocolate brown leather couch and picked up something that was lying on top. Something that looked distinctly like a key fob to the apartment.

She held it out for me to see and my suspicions were confirmed. I couldn't stop the little _Oh..._ that escaped my lips.

"Guess they aren't quite as rare as you seemed to think. Although, I would have thought Carlos would be more choosy about who he gave them to." If I hadn't had the desire before, at that moment I was tempted to leap across the room and slap the smug grin off her face. I might have, too, if it hadn't been for the feeling of my heart shattering just a little in my chest. I had thought the fact Ranger gave me a key fob was significant and symbolic of maybe some deeper feelings for me, but I had obviously assumed wrongly. I knew I shouldn't have felt jealous over the fact that his sister had a key to his place, and I knew it was especially wrong in light of the fact that I was still involved with Joe, but it hurt me to think that I had been so wrong about the situation between us. Yes, she was his sister and so it seemed logical that she might be entrusted with a key to his apartment, but from everything Ranger had ever said, I still found myself feeling shocked. Although, I supposed I shouldn't have been surprised. I really didn't know Ranger that well when it came down to it.

"Well, not that this isn't fun and all, but now that we've compared key chains, would you mind telling me what you're doing in my brother's apartment? I hardly think he'd want you up here unsupervised." The expression on her face made it clear that she was suggesting it wasn't just the fact that it was someone up in Ranger's apartment, but specifically that he wouldn't want someone like me up here in his apartment.

"Actually," I said as calmly as I could while I fought back both tears and the anger burning beneath my skin, "he asked me to come up here and wait for him. He got called to something for work on our way over and he said he would meet me in his apartment."

She tilted her head and gave what someone else might have mistaken for a sweet smile. "That was before he knew that I was here to visit. Once he finds out I'm here, I'm sure we'll be too busy catching up to have time for whatever it was that you were supposed to do for him." There was no doubt what she was suggesting I was there to do for Ranger, but I was still too shocked by the extreme change in our plans for the evening, as well as the fact that my key fob wasn't as unique as Ranger had led me to believe it was, to be able to think of a smart comeback. "Besides," she added, "I'm not really comfortable with some stranger being in my brother's apartment, so I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

That part pissed me off enough that I could respond properly. "I think I'll just wait to hear that from Ranger, actually."

"Why don't you just call him right now and get it out of the way, then?" she wanted to know.

"He's busy working. Like I told you before, he was called away to something. And I don't like to interrupt him if I don't have to."

"Yeah," her tone and the tilt she gave to her head suggested she was sympathizing, but I knew the truth. "That must be hard when he's not willing to go out of his way for you and wants you to stay out of his."

"Hey!" I finally demanded, "What's with you? You've been nothing but rude and mean since I got here. And unlike you, I was an invited guest."

"Look, Stephie was it?" She cut me off when I tried to correct her. "Stephie, I've never heard of you. Carlos and I are very close and your name has never been mentioned to me. Not only that, but I guarantee that my mother's never heard of you either. None of my sisters, nor my brother has ever heard of you. I know this because they would have said something about the fact that Carlos was dating. You know why? It's because we're a very close knit family. We talk to each other. When something special and meaningful happens in our lives, we like to share it with each other. You might think that whatever it is you're doing for Ranger makes you someone special in his life, but here's the truth: If you meant anything to him at all, he would have told us about you. He would have mentioned that he'd met a woman and was dating her. But do you know what he's said about you in the ... how long is it that you've known him now?"

My voice was tiny when I responded. "A-about three years."

"Yeah. Three years. That's a long time. Three years and Carlos has never said a word about you." She shrugged slightly and rearranged her expression into something almost sympathetic. And it might have been sympathetic if her tone didn't tell me how much she was enjoying all of this. "That's got to hurt at least a little, that you've known him for three years and he's never even bothered to mention your name. Not even once." She looked me direct in the eye. "Not a single time in three years has he bothered to tell anyone who matters to him that you even exist."

"Ranger likes to keep his personal life to himself," I whispered, trying hard to still believe that that's all it was, that that was the reason he had never said anything about me, not even that we were friends.

"You think so, huh? You think that's all it is? Tell me, do you know Lula?" she asked.

I stumbled slightly at the quick change in the subject. "Yes."

"Yeah. From what I've heard of Lula, that seems fitting. How is Lula? Is she still dating Pierre ... Sorry, I mean Tank. That's his real name, in case you didn't know that. Yeah, my brother told us ... that would be his family, the people he talks to ... yeah, he told us all about how Pierre is dating Lula. She sounds like a riot. I've heard a lot about her over the years, actually. I could probably even recognize her on the street from the way he's described her in such detail, even though I've never seen her before. Yes, I've heard a lot about Lula." She narrowed her gaze at me and her voice dropped to just above a whisper and I had to fight back a shiver at the coldness of her tone. "And yet I've never, even once, heard of you."

I could feel tears beading behind my eyes and I knew I couldn't wait in the apartment until Ranger finally got back. Not while she was there.

I turned around, bundled all my things into my arms from the table by the door, and dashed out for the elevator, swinging the door closed behind me. I thanked God that I had stayed in an apartment on the fourth floor the night before so that I didn't have to figure out how to get out of the building before giving in to the pain I was suddenly feeling in my chest. I felt like my lungs were tightening and it was all I could do just to keep sucking in breaths.

I could feel my eyes burning with unshed tears and clenched my hands into tight fists so my nails were biting down into my palms. My only hope was that the tears wouldn't start running down my cheeks until I was at least in the privacy of the other apartment. I didn't want it to get back to Ranger that I'd been crying in his elevator; I didn't want to have to justify it. He was probably going to get enough of a laugh as it was when he and his sister talked about how she'd finally broke it all down for the silly Burg girl who'd been mooning away after him.

I locked myself into the apartment and leaned my back on the door. I was gasping for breaths and I could no longer tell if the pain in my chest was due to the emotion, or if I was in the midst of a full blown panic attack..

I knew I had to slow down, calm down, and just think. Deep down, I knew that Ranger wouldn't be laughing at me behind my back. He was a good man, far too good to do something like that to a friend. And despite everything Maria had said, I knew that Ranger was my friend. He may not think of me as anything beyond that, but we were at least friends. If we weren't, I probably would have gotten a bill for his car instead of just a request to play his fiancé, never mind everything else he had done for me over the years.

But a lot of what Maria had said had also hit home for me. I believed her when she said that Ranger had never mentioned my name to his family. I believed her when she said she'd never heard of me in all the years since we had met. And based on the fact that Ranger had told me I was the only woman who'd been in his apartment other than Ella, but there Maria stood with a key and an open door policy that apparently allowed her to use her brother's shower, I was willing to believe her when she said the key fob wasn't nearly as significant as I'd wanted it to be. And all of those things hurt.

I didn't want to have to stop to think about why they hurt, but given that I was standing in an apartment three floors down from the one I'd planned on spending the night in, dressed in a gown that had been bought for me, wearing jewelry that cost only god knows what, and feeling like I'd lost not just my best friend but also my soulmate, I knew that I had no choice. It was time to seriously think about what I was doing here. And to figure out how I could continue to tell myself that I was in love with two men when the truth was that I loved two men, but was in love with only one.

Ranger.

My knees buckled as I finally admitted the truth to myself after at least a couple of years of fighting to deny it. I knew my epiphany wasn't going to change anything between the two of us. I wasn't going to start lying to myself and believing that anything was going to change between him and I, but in that moment, I knew I couldn't continue to let things go on with Joe the way that they had been. I may end up spending the rest of my life alone, but it wasn't fair to Joe to stay in a relationship with him just so I could hang on to my safety net. I also knew that every time I'd thought Joe was cheating on me with Terry Gilman, every time I'd thought he was seeing some other woman and using his job as an excuse to go out, the anger I'd felt at the thought of Joe being with some other woman had been created by my pride and my competitiveness. I hadn't once felt the way I did when I'd thought for that brief moment that Maria was someone Ranger was dating. That alone told me it was time to end things with Joe.

I wiped the tears from my cheeks and lifted myself off the floor just as my cell phone rang. As I checked the read out I thought to myself, _Speak of the devil._

"Hi Joe."

Without any other preamble, he replied, "Cupcake, you coming over here tonight? The boys miss you something fierce."

I didn't bother to hide my sigh. "No, Joe. I'm not. Just like we discussed last night, I need to stay here at Rangeman to keep up appearances."

I could practically hear his disposition darkening over the phone line. "I still can't believe you talked me into this. Whoever heard of borrowing another man's woman?"

I felt my eyes go squinty. "What do you mean another man's woman? I don't even have an identity to you, I'm just 'your woman'? I can't believe you would say that. What century are you living in?"

"Steph, you know what I mean. Don't go all women's lib on me tonight. I had a crappy day; I got told off by my sergeant, didn't have any clean underwear to put on this morning so I had to put on a pair from the hamper, and now I come home and there's nothing for dinner and you aren't here." I could feel myself softening a little at the fact that he was upset I wasn't there, but then he added, with a definitely lascivious tone of voice, "The boys _really _miss you, Cupcake."

"Maybe they should get together with Bob so none of you are lonely any more," I shot back. "Look, Joe, I think we need to talk."

The line was silent for a moment while he recognized the tone of my voice. "What's going on Steph? Did something happen tonight?"

I could only imagine the possibilities going through his head, so I said, "Yes, but probably not what you think. I've just come to some realizations tonight, and one of them is that I need to make some changes to my life."

"You're finally going to marry me?" There was laughter in his voice as though he didn't really believe that was the answer. I couldn't decide if I was mad at the fact that he considered that a joke or not.

I gave a small, watery laugh. "No, that's not it."

"You sound like you've been thinking some deep thoughts, Cupcake."

I took a deep breath to steel myself. "Do you want to come over, Joe? So we can talk?"

He was quiet again. "If it's all the same to you, Steph, I think I know what's coming and I'd rather do this over the phone."

I took a deep breath to brace myself and forced my voice to stay steady even though I was already feeling very emotionally shaky. "I can't do this anymore, Joe. I can't be with you anymore."

I heard him just breathing for a while and I took a few more deep breaths of my own. As soon as I had made my announcement, silent tears had started streaming down my face again. But this time the emotion associated with them was relief.

"Is this about Manoso?"

I closed my eyes while I considered how to respond. "I'm not going to lie to you, Joe. I care deeply about Ranger. But he's not what this is about. He doesn't want a future with me. And I can't let myself stay with you just so I don't end up alone. I love you, but not in the way you need me to."

He gave a shaky laugh. "Maybe things can change."

I shook my head even though he couldn't see it. My voice was almost a whisper when I responded. "They aren't going to change enough, Joe. You deserve better than this. You deserve to be with a woman who both loves you and is in love with you. I'm sorry I can't be that woman." I gave a bitter laugh. "Believe me, you have no idea how sorry I am I'm not that woman."

"Cupcake, maybe we could try–"

I cut him off mid-sentence, "No, Joe. I can't do this anymore. It's not fair to either of us to draw out this relationship when we both know we don't have a future together. Believe me, I'm scared out of my mind to consider the future without you," my voice got shaky at that as my throat welled up and I forced myself to swallow over the lump that had appeared in it. "But I need to do this. I need to know that I'm not being selfish and hanging on to you just because I'm afraid."

I gave a watery laugh. "Just think, you won't have to keep buying Maalox by the crate anymore for every time my name comes up at the station."

He gave a quiet chuckle. "I will give you that. My stomach will probably thank you for this." I heard him suck in a breath. "I'm going to miss you, though."

I swallowed a sob. "I'm going to miss you, too. But maybe we can still be friends."

"Don't you ever doubt it, Cupcake. I'll always be your friend."

I said good night to him and turned off my cell phone before crawling onto the bed and crying myself to sleep for the night.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_As always, please let me know your thoughts. And thank you to everyone who is still reading the story! I love to hear what you think of it._

_- Josie_


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing.. _

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. Thank you to Veronica for proofing this for me. Without her, it would probably be a mess of spelling and grammar errors! _

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 10_

I awoke the next morning to the feeling of someone stroking my back and I knew from the way my body responded to the touch that it was Ranger. I gave a luxurious stretch, a smile on my face before the events of the night before came rushing back to me and wiped the smile right off my face. I rolled my head on the pillow, my face scrunching up against the material of the pillowcase and no doubt smearing whatever makeup that hadn't already been washed off by my tears the night before.

Ranger saw that I was awake and pulled my body closer to him. I could feel heat radiating from his body, warming mine in places that it no longer would if I was smart. But I wasn't feeling very smart, and I was enjoying the contact, and I could feel my body reacting the way it always did to his touch.

My face was still scrunched in the pillow as I tried to hide the state it was in. The last thing I wanted Ranger to see was tear tracks dried onto my cheeks in what was left of my mascara. I should have known better, though. This was Ranger we were talking about, and Ranger never misses anything.

"I'm going to have to talk to my sister about the way she messed up all the plans I had for you last night." I felt my body stiffen at his comment, and the idea that Ranger knew everything that Maria had said to me and that this was his way of telling me that all that she had said was true came to me in a flash. He must have felt the tension that had suddenly appeared in my back, especially since his hand was still stroking it, because I felt his hand slow down and then stop, resting on the small of my back just above my hips.

"For coming for an unexpected visit and interrupting my plans for you," he said, elaborating on his previous thought. I relaxed slightly under his hand and he started applying pressure to the muscles his hand was resting on, working out some of the tightness that had gathered there.

"Is there something I should know?" he asked, his voice quiet.

I kept my face hidden in the pillow, using it to mask the emotions and thoughts I normally couldn't keep off my face, and half expected Ranger to tear it away from me. He found a particularly tight spot on my back and I couldn't help a small moan of pleasure as he began to rub there. All this before I remembered I still needed to answer him.

The trouble was, I wasn't sure _how _to answer him. The truth of the matter was, I wasn't sure if I believed everything Maria had said, but my insecurities were making it so I wasn't entirely certain I could disbelieve it all either. I was caught in a limbo between wanting to tell him everything his sister had said to me, and packing up my things to get myself out of this entire situation before I could get hurt any more than I already had.

Because I still had a lot to lose. Neither Ranger nor his sister knew about the epiphany I'd had. Neither of them knew that I was hopelessly in love with Ranger.

He shifted beside me and started massaging my shoulders, his hands touching cotton instead of my bare skin like they should have since I'd fallen asleep in my gown from the night before. It was only then that I realized I had been changed out of it. I shifted my head so I could see by looking down without actually raising my head up off the pillow, and saw black cotton encasing my upper body. One of Ranger's t-shirts.

My voice was muffled by the pillow when I spoke, and I completely ignored his previous question. For now, anyways. "Did you put me in this t-shirt when you got here this morning?"

His hand slid beneath the material on the next stroke so that we were skin to skin. He started massaging my sore muscles again before he answered. "I got you changed into the t-shirt when I came in here to check on you last night." He leaned down so his voice was a quiet growl in my ear, and I could feel his breath heating my skin the way his close proximity was already doing. "I hope you don't mind, but I shared the bed with you last night." His lips were so close I could feel them rubbing against my ear as he spoke. "I would much rather share a bed with you than share an apartment with my sister."

The mention of his sister was like a bucket of ice water thrown over my head, and I sat up suddenly under his hands before sliding myself out from under him and sitting up on the edge of the bed with my back to him. His hand slid down my back and out from under the shirt.

"Babe?" he said. "What's wrong?"

I could feel him start to move across the bed toward me so I stood up, fighting to keep the sadness out of my voice. "Nothing's wrong. I just forgot to wash the makeup off my face before I went to bed last night. It's bad enough you have to see my hair in this state, I don't want you to have to see my face all covered in mascara, too." I managed to throw a light-hearted laugh in at the end.

I had started across the room toward the bathroom when Ranger spoke again. "I think it's customary for a husband to see his wife in the mornings, Babe. You're going to have to trust me to cope at some point."

I laughed again, but I'm sure it sounded as hollow to him as it did to me. "Luckily for you, this is all just pretend, so you won't have to worry about waking up to it forever." I shut and locked the bathroom door behind me before I could hear his response.

I gave my head a shake to clear it from the tears that were threatening to develop again. I had done enough crying the night before and I wasn't going to do it again if I could help it.

A hesitant glance in the mirror showed me that while it was pretty bad, my makeup wasn't nearly as horrific and smudged as it could have been. It looked like a lot of it had been washed off by the tears and I felt a pang of guilt at the fact that Ella would probably end up being the one to clean it up off my pillowcase for me.

I used the bathroom and started the shower without pausing to consider whether Ranger would need to use the facilities. My Burg girl attitude was making a small return and I wasn't feeling very charitable toward him at that moment. As far as I was concerned, he could go back up to the seventh floor and use the bathroom there, even if it meant he had to do the pee-pee dance down the hall in full view of whoever was monitoring the building's cameras. In fact, at that point, if he had said anything about my lack of consideration for his bodily needs, I would have been very willing to tell him what he could do with those needs before calling off the entire charade that was our engagement.

And that brought my mind back to the issue at hand. As I washed myself in the shower, I realized I needed to figure out if I could still go through with the hoax of our engagement. I knew that every moment I spent with Ranger, my heart was further at risk from him. I equally knew that nothing was going to change Ranger's mind about whether a relationship could work between us; he wasn't going to back down on his concerns. Until Maria had opened my eyes, I never knew exactly how much I was putting at risk by holding out even a small amount of hope. She may have been a bitch to me, but before Maria had told me all those things, I had been content to operate in a state of denial and tell myself I could take whatever it was he was willing to offer me and accept that alone.

I knew better now. I wanted it all. And I knew there was no chance I was going to get it.

With those depressing thoughts, I finished washing myself and rinsed under a stream of water that may have been just slightly less warm than it had been for the rest of my shower. I took a bit of pleasure at the idea that Ranger might be forced to have a less than steaming hot shower – the water heater in the building was too good for him to ever have to suffer an actual cold shower if he didn't want one so I knew not to hold out hope of that.

I toweled myself off before wrapping myself in the robe that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door and then spent some time combing out my hair. I will admit that I was stalling in hopes that Ranger would not be in the apartment when I got out.

Amazingly, there was no sign of him when I finally got out of the bathroom. I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and rushed through the process of getting myself dressed, taking only a moment to stop and call my dad for a ride. I hadn't seen my mother since the entire charade began, and while I knew I should be rejoicing in that and milking it for all it was worth, I was a little worried about her and wanted to check up on her health, as well as their home's booze levels.

And if it meant I could avoid Ranger and the thinking about the entire situation for a while, all the better.

My dad called my cell when he was a block away from the building and I told him where to meet me on the street. I disconnected and hesitated the briefest of moments before I made my decision. I picked up my duffel bag and jammed all of my belongings into it, scooping the toiletries into side pockets even though they were still wet.

I also made extra sure I left all the jewelry, including my fake engagement ring, on the bureau.

I took one last look around the room to ensure I hadn't missed anything before closing the door to the apartment behind me and speedwalking down the hall to the elevator. I was hoping to avoid seeing anyone on my way out of the building ... Okay, I was hoping avoid Ranger and Maria ... but if I could avoid seeing anyone at all, it would be that much better.  
Luck has never really been on my side, but it held out a little for me because as I was standing there waiting for the elevator, Lester and Bobby showed up behind me after leaving their respective apartments. I figured I was just lucky that Ranger wasn't with either of them. They both nodded at me before starting to talk about a takedown that was planned for later that day. I stood there, staring at the blank elevator doors, trying to tune them out and hoping they would be the only people I'd have to see as I left, when the elevator finally got to our floor and we had to wait until Ram, Zero, Manny, and Hal got off before we could enter it. In all the time I had spent in the building, I didn't think I'd ever seen that many people outside of the control room, and now they were all showing up as I tried to make my quiet escape.

Lester and Bobby were silent in the car as it moved down, but when the doors binged open at the garage floor, Bobby spoke up.

"Are you taking one of Ranger's cars, Steph?"

I bit my lip for a moment before answering. I tried to keep my tone light.

"No, my dad's picking me up. I promised my mom I'd come visit today because she hasn't seen me in a while. I think she's just looking for someone to talk to instead of my grandmother."

They had both heard stories about my grandma so they laughed at that. I started making my way toward the garage doors when Lester spoke up.

"Hey, Bombshell, what's with the duffel bag?"

I closed my eyes tight and took a deep breath before turning around to look at them. "Just some clothes I'm going to wash over at my mom's."

"You know that Ella will do that for you, right?" Bobby offered.

I smiled tightly. "Yeah, I know. But I feel bad with all the work she already does for me, so I thought I would save her some trouble and just take care of them myself." I smiled again. "I might need an excuse for a break from my mom, anyway, and this will give me the opportunity to hide in the basement a bit."

Bobby nodded as though that made sense, but I saw Lester frown. He seemed to be weighing his words before he spoke.

"Is everything okay, Steph?"

I forced a smile again. "Yeah, of course. Everything's fine. I should go, though. My dad will be waiting."

I turned around and half-ran out of the garage before they could ask any more questions.

My dad was silent the entire way to the house, but it was a comfortable silence, not one that suggested he was mad or disappointed in me. Just like clockwork, my mom was waiting at the door when we pulled up, but there was no sign of my grandmother. And if my eyes didn't deceive me, my mother was waving around a bit on her feet.

"You're re-really sure you don't want to marry Josheph?" she slurred to me once I got inside. The fumes from her breath could have been lit from six feet away if I'd had a match.

"Yes, mom. I'm sure. Joe and I are finished."

"And you're sh-sure you want to jump into marrying Ranger? You don't know all that much about him."

I was saved from answering that one by the ringing of the house phone. My mom lurched her way into the kitchen and I heard her say hello as the door to the kitchen swung shut.

I put my bag down on a chair and went into the living room. My dad was already in his easy chair, a game on the TV.

"Where's grandma?" I asked.

"Out with one of her crackpot friends. If I'm lucky, she'll get arrested and live out the rest of her life in a jail cell," was his response.

That seemed like a pretty good conversation ender so I stood in the doorway for a while but couldn't really get into the game. My mind kept whirling with everything that had happened and it was more than a little distracting. Less than twelve hours ago I had been happy. I had been so damn happy that I had allowed myself to get fully sucked into the sham that was my engagement to Ranger. I couldn't stop kicking myself for allowing myself to forget that it was all a sham, that nothing was really happening between the two of us. I had let down my guard and gotten my heart broken for it.

I gave my head a shake and it occurred to me that I hadn't heard anything from my mom for a while, so I decided to go check on her. I walked into the kitchen and found her sitting on her telephone stool, passed out with her back against the wall. How she had managed to stay upright was beyond me.

I called for my dad to come help and the two of us got her moved out to the living room where we put her on the couch to sleep off her bender. My dad then settled back into his chair as if everything was perfectly normal. He flipped channels for a bit before finding an old Ranger's game on one of those Sports Highlights channels and eased back to get lost in the oblivion of television sports. I decided that he had the right idea and plunked myself down in the matching easy chair.

A couple of hours later, my stomach was rumbling and the game was coming to the end.

"Want something for lunch?" I asked my dad as I hefted myself out of the chair. I didn't bother to keep my voice down because my mom was out cold if her snoring was any indication.

"There's some stuff in the fridge for sandwiches," he said without taking his eyes off the screen.

I wandered into the kitchen and pulled out all the fixings for sandwiches when their doorbell rang. I knew my father wouldn't get it because my mom and grandma always raced each other for the privilege, so I went to go see who it was.

I opened the front door to find Ranger standing on the front step. I felt my heart stutter in my chest at the sight of him, but I like to think I remained outwardly calm. I unlocked the screen door and pushed it open before turning around to go back to the kitchen, allowing him to open the door for himself. I heard him say hello to my dad and exchange a few comments about the statistics for whatever team it was my dad had turned the TV to in my absence before he followed me into the kitchen.

I stood there with my back to him, pretending that all my attention was on my task when really I was just using the opportunity to suck back the tears that were developing behind my eyes. I wasn't ready to face him yet. I wasn't good at talking about my emotions at the best of times, and I wasn't in the mood to do it there with my parents for an audience, even if one of those parents was currently passed out.

"Do you want to tell me what it is I did wrong?" His voice was quiet even in the silence of the room, and I had to strain to hear him.

I didn't turn around, just kept working on my sandwiches and so he said, "Stephanie, tell me what I did and I'll do whatever it is that needs to be done to fix it."

I couldn't help it. A tear escaped and started its way down my cheek. I didn't want to wipe it because Ranger would know I was crying, but at the same time it's never comfortable to have tears slowly sliding their way down your face. And it might have gotten into the sandwiches!

I pulled an onion over and sliced into it a couple of times, more because I wanted the cover than because I wanted to have any on the sandwiches. Ranger must have heard me sniffle because suddenly he was there behind me, reaching around me to pass me a Kleenex.

"Thanks," I mumbled as I accepted, and I took a moment to wipe my eyes and blow my nose before tossing it and getting back to my preparations.

Ranger's hand stilled mine as I went to make another slice.

"Babe, please talk to me."

I sniffled again and walked around him to find another Kleenex.

"There's nothing to talk about," I said. "I just didn't want you to see me with all that makeup on my face this morning."

"Is that why you packed up all your stuff and took off for your parents' house? Because you didn't want me to see you with streaked makeup?"

Dammit. I stood where I was, my back to him again as I tried to figure out what to say. I should have known he would check the apartment first if he had been looking for me.

"Lester told me about seeing you with your bag when you left," he said, interrupting my thoughts.

_Stool pigeon,_ I thought with a scowl.

"Well, like I told Lester, I needed to wash some stuff," I tried to bluff. I wasn't sure why I was trying to hide the fact that I'd moved out.

"You needed to wash all your lotions and makeup?" he asked, his voice even quieter if possible. I knew from past experience that when Ranger was mad he got quieter, but I still didn't want to have this discussion there at my parents'.

I reached down deep and found my own anger. Anger that Ranger's sister had spoken to me like I was a nobody trying to take advantage of Ranger, anger that Ranger refused to budge on his rules about relationships, anger that I'd allowed myself to get into this situation, all of it came rising up and I finally got up the nerve to face him. I turned around ready for a fight, but found that the expression on his face made my breath catch in my chest again, because instead of the blank face I'd so gotten used to seeing from him when we were having a conversation that had anything to do with our feelings, I saw what could only be pain.

"Why did you leave me, Babe?" he asked, his voice almost a whisper.

I swallowed hard and tried to figure out what to say that would give him something without giving away everything that I'd come to realize about my own feelings.

"It just finally hit me what I was doing, and it scared me." I thought that was a good answer because it was both the truth and less than the full story.

Ranger stood there for a while, his eyes locked on my face, no doubt assessing what I had said. It must have passed his bullshit test because he finally closed his eyes and sucked in a deep breath.

I stood where I was, waiting for whatever it was he was going to say, and was surprised when he crossed the room to wrap me in his arms.

"I know I'm asking a lot of you, and I'm sure this is putting a huge strain on your relationship with Morelli," he said into my hair. I realized that somehow the Burg grapevine had passed him by and he didn't know Joe and I had broken up for good the night before. "If I could, Babe, I'd stop all this right now because the last thing I want to do is hurt you."  
I almost laughed at the irony of that, but managed to bite it back.

He sighed against my hair and his arms tightened microscopically, almost as if he was afraid I was going to run away.

"Don Hamilton called me this morning. It's why I went looking for you in your apartment." He pulled away enough to look down at me.

"He and his wife have invited us to a dinner party they're hosting for some of their friends. It's tonight."

I must have frowned slightly, thinking that it didn't give me a lot of time to get ready – I already knew I would go with Ranger. He might not love me the way I loved him, but he was still one of my best friends, and I would do anything for him. But he must have read my expression to mean that I was unhappy he was asking yet another favor from me because he added, "I promise that if tonight makes you uncomfortable, I'll find a way to work around it and you won't have to come along to anything else as my fiancé."

I gave him a small smile. "It's fine, Ranger. We can go to this tonight. I'll need to go shopping right away to find something to wear, though."

His expression lightened with obvious relief that I was still willing to play along and he lifted his hand to stroke a finger along the side of my face. "They said it's just casual, just a group of friends getting together," he said, as though it mattered.

I gave him a small, pitying smile. "Trust me, that still means I need to find something nice to wear in order to show the women why you would pick me to be your fiancé."  
He gave me a peck on the top of my head. "You don't have anything to prove, babe. And every man there will look at you and know that I'm the luckiest man on the planet."

My smile froze on my face and Ranger must have seen a change in my expression, but all I said was, "Be that as it may, I need to go shopping."

He grabbed the one sandwich I had managed to complete and put it on a plate before wrapping his arm around my back to guide me out of the kitchen. He passed the sandwich to my father, who accepted it with a nod, and told him we were going to have to leave.

I leaned over to give my father a kiss and when I was done I turned to find my purse and found Ranger holding it, as well as my duffel bag, and waiting for me.

"I figured you would need this to get ready."

I nodded in agreement and hesitated briefly when Ranger held out his hand to me. I bit my lip as I took it, but I don't think he saw. Or if he did, he didn't bother to comment on it.

"Ready to go?" he asked me.

"As ready as I'll ever be," was my response.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. It was pretty emotionally exhausting for me to write. Please let me know what you thought of it, and what you think should happen to Maria in the end. I really agree that the woman needs to experience some payback!_

_Real life is still pretty busy, but my goal is to have one chapter written per week and so far I've managed to keep up with that since the kids went back to school._

_Let me know what you think of the story so far. I love reading everyone's thoughts._

_-Josie_


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. Special thanks to Veronica for reading through this for me. You're a great beta, Babe!_

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 11_

Ranger drove us over to the mall. I expected him to drop me off at the door, but instead he pulled into a parking spot – as close to the door as possible, of course – and turned off the engine. He had already done up his seatbelt by the time I realized he was planning on getting out with me.

"What are you doing?" I asked, my confusion showing not only in my face but also in the fact that I was willing to question Ranger about his actions.

He responded even as he opened his door to the car and made to get out, "Coming shopping with you."

He closed the door, effectively stopping my questions, and made his way around the car to open my own door.

"Why?" I asked, as I fumbled with my seatbelt.

"Because I want to," he said. "And because I would like to meet the man who helped you find that dress you wore the other night."

"Why?" I asked again.

Ranger bent down and reached across me to still my hand on the buckle of the seatbelt, where I was still trying to find the co-ordination to press the release. He pressed the button and allowed the strap to pull back, but didn't remove his hand from where it rested on next to my waist.

I looked up from my lap and found his eyes intent on my face. His voice was low and husky when he spoke.

"Because that dress made you happy. You looked beautiful in it and I want to thank him for being part of that."

I dropped my eyes to my lap again, confused the the dueling emotions within me. He was saying all the things that someone who cared about another person would say, but at the same time I knew nothing was going to come of this and that he didn't feel about me the way I felt about him. And according to his sister, he was only playing with me, using me as a distraction in the worst possible sense of the term. But with his touch gentle on me, and his words telling me that he was honestly concerned about my happiness, I didn't know what to believe.

Ranger's finger beneath my chin forced me to raise my face up and meet his eyes.

My voice was soft as the question I really wanted answered slipped out by accident. "What are you doing?"

A frown touched his expression briefly before he responded. "What happened, Stephanie?"

I felt my body jerk slightly at the question. "I don't know what you mean."

"Last night when I dropped you off I thought things ..." He trailed off as though trying to consider how to phrase what he wanted to say. "I thought things were going well between us."

I forced a smile to my face. "I had a good time at your business dinner, Ranger. Just like I'm sure I'll have a good time at the business dinner tonight." Although I knew my emphasis of "business" was obvious, I thought it important to remind myself of that fact as much as I was reminding him that I understood my place in his life.

He frowned slightly again and raised his brush his fingers against my cheek, but I turned my face so I was looking at the mall and forced some cheer into my voice. "So, are we going shopping or what?"

He stood up and reached a hand down to assist me up as well, but didn't release my hand once I was standing. That's how we walked into the store, hand in hand, so when Marcel spotted me the moment I walked into the dress section, he saw our linked hands and a huge smile creased his face.

"Stephanie! How wonderful to see you! And this must be ..." he trailed off with a mischievous smile on his face.

I dropped Ranger's hand in reaction to Marcel's comment, and from the corner of my eye I saw Ranger give me a concerned look, but he didn't say anything.

"Marcel, I know it's short notice, but I just found out we have a dinner party to show up for tonight." I gave a little head tilt in Ranger's direction. "He says it's just casual."

Marcel gave a knowing laugh and although I wasn't looking at him, I could imagine Ranger's eyebrow raising in answer to it. If so, Marcel wasn't intimidated by the look. "We both know better, though, don't we?" he asked with another laugh as he led our way through the racks of clothing.

"Not to worry, dear. I have just the thing for you," he said as he sought out our prize. "It just came in last night and I thought of you as soon as I saw it."

He sorted through the rack, looking for whatever item it was he had in mind, until he came upon a one-piece black pantsuit with a halter neck on it. "Dressy but casual, and completely sexy," Marcel pronounced even as he started leading us back out of the clothing section, this time toward the change rooms.

"But..." I started to object, but he held up his hand without missing a beat, effectively cutting off my complaint.

"You have to try it on. You should know by now that I won't steer you wrong."

Ranger put his hand in the small of my back and the warmth of it calmed my treacherous body so I continued following along meekly, this time without complaint.

Marcel snagged a change room next to the largest mirror in the store and swept open the door for me. "Now, scoot," he said. "Go put this on so we can all see what a genius I am with clothing."

I couldn't help smiling in response, and took the proffered hanger from him.

I stripped down quickly enough, but putting on the pantsuit was something else entirely. There was a zipper in the back that went from just below the waist line, all the way to the middle of my back, and I found that no matter how much I struggled with it, I just couldn't get the thing up.

My voice was admittedly whiny when I called for Marcel to help me, but he showed up quickly, with a smile on his face. It didn't take long for me to realize what the smile was about.

"That's him, right?" he asked as he took his time zipping me up. "The guy from the other day?"

I looked as his reflection hovering over my shoulder in the mirror. "Yeah, that's him."

He frowned. "Okay, that wasn't nearly the same response you had to him before. What's happened in the very short time since you here shopping for your dress, getting all googly-eyed when he called your phone, spending, what? Was it _four_ hours that you searched for, and I quote here, 'the perfect dress'?"

I gave a minute shrug of my shoulder and Marcel stopped moving entirely, staring me down via my reflection so he didn't even have to turn me around for me to see his penetrating gaze.

I caved pretty quickly under the strength of his glare and said, "I've just realized that no matter how much I might want more from him, that this is all just business to him, and there's nothing I can do to change that."

Marcel gave me a supportive smile, "Trust me, honey. The way that man looks at you? That isn't just business."

I couldn't help lowering my gaze so that I found myself focusing on the reflection of my sock-clad feet. "He might want my body, but that's where this all ends. At first I tried to tell myself that maybe that could be enough, and I could just enjoy our time together for what it is, but I don't think I can do that anymore."

I raised my eyes to his in the mirror. "I care too much about him to be able to leave it as just sex." Marcel opened his mouth to respond and I cut him off, "Don't get me wrong, I want him for that, too. But that's not all I want him for, but it's all he wants from me. And I can't let myself get sucked any deeper into this than I already have while knowing that there's not going to be a happy ending for me here."

Marcel ran his hands up and down the sides of my upper arms. "I think you're wrong, Stephanie. But, in the meantime, I think you need to go show that man how a woman actually needs to dress for a 'casual' business dinner party." He finished zipping up the back of my outfit and stepped back to pull the door to the room open.

Ranger was seated in one of the leather chairs put out for non-shopping spouses, and he stood when I stepped out of the change room.

He made a little gesture to tell me to turn around so he could see the back and I made a small pivot on the spot, turning back to him to find that his eyes had darkened and his breathing had sped up slightly. I looked around to find Marcel and found that the traitor had disappeared.

Ranger stepped toward me, but instead of stopping in front of me he did a slow circuit around me, checking me out from all sides again. He stopped behind me and although I was standing in front of the mirror, I didn't need to be able to see his reflection to know how close he was standing. I felt the front of his shirt brush against the bare skin of my back as he stepped so close to me there was almost nothing separating us. He used a hand to brush my hair away from one shoulder and leaned in close enough to breath in the scent of my skin.

"You look amazing, Babe." He pressed a feather-light kiss against the side of my neck and whispered, "You never disappoint. Did you know that?"

I could feel my pulse speeding at the sight of him in all black, his mocha-coloured skin dark in contrast to my own milky-white skin, offset by the black of the pantsuit I was wearing. We looked hot together, and I didn't need the sight of him standing so close to me to make my breathing come faster.

My eyes closed of their own volition and I had to bite my lip to fight back the moan that wanted to escape as he pressed his lips to the side of my neck in a series of hot kisses that ran down to the top of my shoulder. He reversed his path, trailing his lips back up the sensitive path, but this time I was further distracted by the feeling his hands splayed across my stomach, pulling my body back into his own so that whatever space had been separating us was gone entirely.

He finished kissing his way up my neck, and trailed his lips over the edge of my jawline, up toward my ear. I felt him give a little tug of my earlobe with his lips and sucked in a gasp at the sensation. And then almost gasped again as I felt his hot breath against my ear as he spoke.

"You are everything I could ever want in a wife, Babe," he said.

My eyes flew open and met his reflected in the mirror. But before I could ask him about what he'd said, Marcel reappeared from where ever he had disappeared to.

"So, can I safely assume that this outfit is a hit, too?" he asked with a huge smile on his face.

Ranger turned us to face Marcel without releasing his hands from the front of my body. "It's my favorite colour," he said.

Marcel gave Ranger a look that suggested he might have something to say about Ranger's mono-chromatic look, but he wisely kept his mouth shut.

"Maybe I should just be the one to help her get unzipped, shall I?" he said as he pulled me from Ranger's arms and back into the change room.

"Nothing there, huh?" he whispered loudly the moment he had closed the door behind us.

This time it was me who wisely chose not to respond.

- - - - -

Dinner was as wonderful that night as it had been the night before. Linda later confided in me that she had hired caterers to prepare the meal when I expressed concerns over the thought that I could never prepare anything like what we had been served for dinner. I felt better about that and allowed myself to just enjoy the food, the drink, and the company. Especially the company.

Ranger was even more attentive to my every need that night than he had ever been before. And given that the man had saved my life several times, had sacrificed untold vehicle dollars in the name of transportation for me, and regularly forced his men to assist me, that was saying something. Whenever my water glass looked a little empty, Ranger was there with the pitcher to offer me a refill. If someone asked him something about the bounty hunting side of his business, he would defer to me to answer the question if it was something he knew I had dealt with myself. There were a couple of times that he got pulled off to chat with another group of people, but he always seemed to gravitate back toward me. And it didn't seem to be because he was worried I might say something wrong, or screw up in some way, like Joe probably would have worried. It was like he just couldn't stand to be separated from me.

And that had me seriously questioning everything his sister had said to me. I couldn't understand why Ranger would spend so much energy trying to keep me happy if I was only a mild form of entertainment for him. He was a self-confessed mercenary. I didn't think that made him the type of man to go out of his way to make a woman happy for no good reason. And maybe that reason was just our friendship, but even if that was the case, it made most of what Maria had said the night before into a lie, and I was willing to live with that.

We left the Hamiltons' home at around midnight and the drive back to Haywood was quiet, save for some quiet jazz that Ranger had put on the radio. He had elected to drive us himself, so this time his attention was focused solely on the road.

Or so I thought. I was interrupted by my own thoughts when he lifted up my hand and raised it, palm up, to his lips. He placed a kiss there that had fire zinging all the way to my doodah.

"Thank you for doing this tonight, Babe."

A small smile touched my lips. "I had a good time." I paused for a moment. "And that's what friends are for, right?" If nothing else, I needed to know that our friendship wasn't a lie. I didn't think I could live with the idea that even that part of our relationship was false.

He gave a small nod of ascent with his head. "Friends," he said, his voice quiet. I should have been happy to have that status confirmed, but I still felt a little disappointed. I tried to tell myself there was just no satisfying me these days and internally laugh it off, but I knew where the emotion was stemming from, even if Ranger didn't and never would.

We drove in silence for a few more blocks until Ranger broke the silence again. "Did you talk to Morelli today?" A small smile raised the corner of his lips. "Do I need to worry about us having a welcoming party when we get back to RangeMan?"

I bit my lip as I considered how to respond. "No, you won't have to worry about that again." He turned to look at me so I continued. "I, um, we ..." I gave an awkward shrug that he no doubt saw in the periphery of his vision. "I called him last night and broke it off." I shrugged again and hoped that it looked casual. "Things weren't working out."  
Ranger was silent for a few beats. "So you're taking another break?"

I shook my head and he glanced at me before focusing back on the road. "It's not a break this time. That would be another unhealthy pattern of behaviour, right?" I said, echoing something he had said to me a while ago. "Joe and I are done this time. There's no getting back together."

He reached for my hand again and stroked his thumb over the back of it. "Are you all right?"

I gave what was probably a tentative smile. "Yeah, I am. It was a long time coming, you know? I'm actually pretty relieved."

He turned to look at me and the smile on his face was reflected in his eyes. "Proud of you, Babe."

We finished the drive hand in hand, and in silence which was par for the course for Ranger. It wasn't until Ranger had pulled into his parking spot and turned off the engine that he spoke again. "Why don't you come up to the seventh floor?"

I hesitated at the thought of having to confront his sister again. "Are you sure we won't be disturbing your sister? Maybe I should just go to the other apartment."

He raised my hand to his lips and placed yet another kiss on it. "I'm not ready to call it a night, yet. Come up."

He must have seen me about to refuse because he added the killer word. "Please, Babe."

I could only nod in response. He gave one of his almost-smiles and leaned forward to press a kiss to my lips. Appetizer, not entrée.

We rode up to the seventh floor hand in hand again. Ranger had held my hand more that evening than in the entire time I had known him. If I hadn't been enjoying it so much, it might have freaked me out a little.

The TV could be heard as soon as he opened the door and his sister called out a greeting. Ranger pulled me into the living room behind him and echoed her greeting.

"You've met Stephanie, right?" he said to her.

She gave a catlike smile that he missed since he was already making his way toward the bedroom. "Yes, we met briefly last night."

I saw Ranger give a nod in response. "Babe, I'm just going to take a quick shower. Make yourself at home, okay?" he said as he closed the door behind him, leaving me alone with Maria. I bit back a curse but settled myself onto an edge of the couch, as far away from her as I could get.

"So," she said, turning her full attention toward me. "Did you have a nice time tonight?"

I took a second to analyze the question, but couldn't see any pitfalls to answering it. Plus, it seemed like an easy way to show her that I was actually a nice person and not some gold digger after her brother's money.

"Yes, dinner was very nice."

"Oh, did Ranger take you out again?" she asked. I swear she batted her eyelashes a little as she said it, probably to emphasize the innocence of the question.

"No, we were at the home of some friends of his." I knew I could have, and maybe should have described Don and Linda as colleagues of Ranger's, but I took a small amount of pleasure out of the opportunity to suggest I was more involved in her brother's life than she understood.

She nodded and agreed that that was nice before throwing out her bombshell. "Nice outfit. Is it new?"

I sucked in a breath as an alternative to voicing the swear that had immediately come to mind. "Yeah, it is."

She nodded, knowingly. "Carlos got it for you, huh?"

I stood up from the couch. "You know, I'm tired." I didn't add "of this," although I was thinking it. "Let Ranger know that I headed down to my apartment, will you?"

I started to gather my purse when she responded. "Sure, I'll be happy to let Carlos know you went down to _his_ fourth floor apartment."

I stopped moving and turned toward her, tempted to respond, but ended up just sighing instead. It wasn't worth it to respond, I decided, so I just gave Maria a sweet smile and said, "Great. Thanks," before letting myself out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Thanks to everyone who wrote feedback and let me know how they think the story is going. It means so much to me to know what people are thinking, good or bad, so please continue to let me know!_

_- Josie_


	12. Chapter 12

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. Thank you to Veronica for being my beta again._

_A/N: I'm sorry the chapter is so late this week. We've had some family stuff happening that made it impossible to write it on time. I'll try to do better with the next one._

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 12_

I awoke for the second day in a row to the feeling of someone stroking my back in a soothing rhythm. Or at least the experience would have been soothing if I hadn't guessed that it was Ranger, and that he was there because he wanted to talk about why I took off from his apartment the night before.

I knew that he knew that I was awake, but that didn't mean I had to admit to it openly. So I rolled away from him and shoved my head under the pillow. He didn't stop the rhythmic stroking and after a while it lulled me almost back to sleep.

His voice, coming through just fine despite the pillow, jerked me back awake. "Are we going to talk about why you took off for the second night in a row?"

I grunted in response and clutched the pillow tighter to my head. I should have known better, though. Ranger is skilled in many different forms of warfare.

His hand slipped beneath the edge of my t-shirt and began rubbing my back directly. My skin felt heated where ever he touched, and I found myself biting my bottom lip to hold in a moan, it felt so good.

"Talk to me, Babe."

His words jerked me right out of my pleasurable state and I rolled away from him and off the bed in one swift movement.

"Don't worry about it." I shut myself into the bathroom before he could respond, and for once Ranger didn't come after me.

Even though I spent what must have been forty-five minutes in the shower alone, plus at least another thirty playing with my hair and trying to work out all the knots, he didn't knock once. I knew he hadn't left because I could hear him in the little kitchenette, making up what had to be another one of his smoothies. Or maybe he was trying to shove something down the garbage disposal that didn't belong. Either way, he was making a lot of noise out there and I was pretty sure it was intentional. His less than subtle way of telling me that I hadn't gotten rid of him that easily, and that I would have to deal with him eventually.

And really, what had I expected? I should have known Ranger wouldn't let me do the same trick two days in a row and keep dodging him and his questions.

I wasted as much time as I could in the bathroom, even going so far as to clip my toe nails and tweeze my eyebrows a bit. Finally, though, I had nothing else to do to justify hiding out and I knew I had to go face him.

Unfortunately for me, I was going to have to face him while wearing my towel. In my haste to escape I had forgotten to bring in a change of clothes, and I had apparently forgotten to hang the robe back up the day before, too. Given that Ella didn't do it herself, I was betting I had accidentally packed it in my duffel bag when I had taken off the day before. I would like to believe that it was packed in the midst of my hurry, rather than believe I was secretly a klepto that had finally given into the urge to steal away Ranger's towels, but odds were pretty good either way.

I was now faced with a choice of either going back out wearing the t-shirt I had worn in, a gesture that I thought would weaken any show of attitude I might give him by all but admitting that he had made me too flustered to remember to bring clothes, or wear the towel and admit that I had nothing on underneath. The towel somehow seemed the stronger stance, so that's what I did.

Ranger was seated, facing me on the little couch when I stepped out of the bathroom. His arms were spread along the back of the couch, and the position did wonders to emphasize the development of his pectoral and shoulder muscles. Despite how I was feeling, I was tempted to drop my towel and launch myself at him.

And that brought up an important point. How was I feeling? Besides the stirring of lust that I always got when I saw him, I was feeling depressed. I was willing to believe that Ranger and I were friends, even if we would never be anything more, but even that status of friends put me in a bad situation. Because more than anything just then, I wanted to put Maria Manoso in her place. She had treated me like a gold digger who was after nothing more than her brother's money and his body. She had insulted me, hurt me, and made me doubt myself. But if I was truly Ranger's friend, I couldn't really do anything to retaliate without hurting our friendship.

I was almost as mad at Ranger over that as I was at Maria.

I mean, sure, he hadn't bothered to mention me, his friend to anyone in his family for the entire time we had known each other.

And sure, Mr I-See-and-Know-All had decided to take a break when it came to his sister and so remained completely oblivious to how she was talking to me, let alone treating me. And I believed he was oblivious to it. Not in my normal "denial is your friend" kind of way, either. I felt it, deep in my bones, that Ranger had no idea the kinds of things Maria had been saying to me behind his back.

But that didn't make it feel any better.

Ranger was still sitting there, looking at me, and likely waiting for me to say something. But I wasn't in the mood to share my thoughts. I chose, instead, to ignore him entirely and go root around in my duffel bag for something to wear. I didn't hear him get up, but suddenly he was right there, crouched down across the bag in front of me.

He waited until I finally looked up to acknowledge him before he spoke.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

I looked back down at the bag and continued shuffling things around in it to buy myself some time. I wasn't sure I wanted to respond, and my odds didn't see very good if I made a dash for the bathroom again and tried to lock the door on him. I wasn't going to kid myself. Ranger wouldn't hesitate to do a flying tackle at me, or pick the lock on the bathroom door to get inside if I did make it there before him. That left the very unattractive option of either ignoring him, which didn't seem like it would last very long, or actually telling him what I was thinking. And I didn't like that option in the least.

"Why do you think there's something wrong? You know I'm not a morning person."

"Babe. You don't normally cry in your sleep, and you've been doing that for the last two nights when I've gotten here."

That bit of news threw me for a loop. I'd known I had cried in my sleep the night before, but I hadn't realized I'd done it again last night. I also didn't like the fact that my emotional pain had haunted me through my dreams for anyone to see. It shouldn't have surprised me, though, because a lot of what Maria had said to me had echoed the insecurities I'd always had but had managed not to think about very often due to my well-developed denial skills.

Ranger took advantage of my momentary distraction to plant himself directly in front of my path to the bathroom. He raised his hand and, when I didn't flinch or move away, cupped my cheek with it.

His voice was soft and if I hadn't known better, I would have said it was full of love.

"What did she say to you, Babe, to make you hurt so bad?"

I almost fell over at that. Actually, I started to, but Ranger's hand steadied me on my feet. That gesture had me practically dissolving into sobs, and I might have if I hadn't been so concerned about not appearing weak in front of Ranger. But a tear or two must have sneaked out because Ranger reached over to hook his arms under my legs and around my back before lifting me up as he stood.

He carried me over to the couch where he sat down with me in his lap. He resumed the gentle strokes across my back that he had been doing when I awoke, and it had the same calming effect on me, so I managed to choke down any other tears that may have wanted to form. I felt better then, stronger, and I might have moved away from Ranger, but his arms were wrapped tight around me and it let me know in no uncertain terms that I wasn't moving until he was ready to let me go.

He starred off into the distance for a few moments before finally breaking our silence.

"I know she's my sister, but I'm willing to have someone take care of her if it will make you feel better."

I gave a startled, gurgly laugh. "You and Vito, huh?"

He smiled slightly, a small raise in the corner of his lips.

I shook my head, letting out another watery laugh, and found myself fighting back the tears I had just conquered moments before. Ranger pulled me down so my head was resting on his shoulder, and he wrapped his arms tightly around my back.

"Do you feel up to telling me what Maria said to you now?"

I sucked in a shaky breath and wiped away a few stray tears that had escaped and were making a break for my jawline, using the back of my hand.

"To be honest," I said, forcing a laugh, my voice no more than a whisper, and a very scratchy, unattractive one at that, "I'm not sure I remember all of it."

He gave a laugh that was definitely not amused. "There was a lot then?" I nodded my head against his shoulder. "I may just take care of her by myself."

I laughed again, a few more tears escaping down my cheeks.

"I'm not comfortable going into detail, Ranger. And I feel stupid that I got as upset over it as I did. Most of it's none of my business. I mean, you and I are just colleagues, I get that."

"We're more than just colleagues, Babe," he whispered in my ear. The feel of his breath against my skin made me shiver, and that shiver has to be blamed for me opening my big mouth.

"No, you don't have to be kind. I know we're kind of friends and all, but it's none of my business whether you tell your family about your friends, and I understand that you and I aren't that close, and so why would you tell anyone about me, and I get that–"

Ranger interrupted the flow coming out of my mouth with a gesture of his hand. I was actually quite thankful that he had shut me up, but he sat me up so he could look me in the eye as he spoke.

"What, precisely, did Maria say to you?"

I sucked in a bracing breath before I responded. I had gone too far to back down now. "She told me she's never heard of me, and that none of your family has heard of me either. She said it was because ..." I trailed off. I didn't feel like telling Ranger she hinted I was just a bed buddy while I was sitting in his lap.

"Because of what?" he asked me, but I just shook my head in response. I knew he suspected, though, what I had been about to say, and the fact that his sister had hinted I was nothing more than a bed buddy to him.

Ranger tipped his head back on his neck and breathed deeply while he looked at the ceiling.

"Babe, I haven't seen or talked to Maria in about four years."

I could feel my eyes narrow as I took that in. "What do you mean, you haven't talked to your sister in four years?"

He leaned back against the couch, his arms still loosely wrapped around my body so I could choose to remain sitting up if I wished, and looked me directly in the eye.

"Maria has spent the last four years living in some part of Australia. We've never gotten along, not even when we were kids. She hasn't called me, and I haven't called her. Actually, it was a surprise when she showed up here, saying she wanted to stay with me because of that, but I can understand not wanting to have to stay at my parents' house since it's always such a zoo."

"She hasn't talked to any of your family in four years?" I could feel a little flame of hope at the idea that she had been completely cut off from any family news.

"No, I know my mom has talked to her at least once a month the whole time she was gone. And I'm sure she was in touch with my brother, and at least one of our sisters, too."

That effectively killed the little flame of hope that had been growing in me and I could feel depression setting in again. If she had been talking to the rest of the family the entire time, likely catching up on various family news, it didn't seem likely that she had been lying when she said none of her family had ever heard Ranger talk about me.

I sighed deeply, not wanting to share my thoughts, but Ranger called me on it as usual.

"What are you thinking, Babe?" I didn't answer immediately so he said, "Tell me."

I shrugged a little, the gesture as downhearted as I was. "It's nothing. She was just making a big deal out of it, how none of your family has heard of me. And I know it's really not such a big deal, and that it shouldn't upset me because ... I mean, I don't expect you to talk about me or anything. I know we're just friends. Acquaintances, really. Work colleagues."

Ranger put a finger to my lips, quietening the flow of words babbling out of my mouth. He didn't speak immediately and seemed to be gauging his words.

When he finally spoke, he said, "You know how you go to your family's house for dinner no more than once a month when you have the money to provide your own meals and can avoid it?"

I nodded slowly, thinking that Ranger knew me too well.

"I have the same relationship with my family." He stopped talking to think for another moment.

"This may surprise you, but I'm not a very talkative man." This was said with a rueful and ironic smile that brought a small answering grin to my face. "When I can't put off or find an excuse to escape one of those family dinners, I don't talk a whole lot."

This made sense to me. Ranger wasn't the type of man to go shooting off at the mouth about what had happened during his day, at least not with the people who weren't also in our line of work. But that didn't completely kill the disappointment I felt. It was unreasonable and selfish, but I was disappointed that I wasn't someone Ranger had felt the need to talk to his family about. I wasn't surprised, but I was still a bit disappointed about it.

"My mom has heard about you."

This was said quietly, almost grudgingly, as if he wasn't entirely certain he wanted to admit it to me.

I looked up at him, dragging my eyes away from where they'd been locked on his chest.

"She overheard me one time, talking to you on my phone when I was over there for dinner. She heard me call you 'babe.' " The corners of his lips rose in a small grin. "She wouldn't let me leave that night until I had told her at least a bit about you." His grin widened into a full smile. "I was lucky my brother and sisters weren't there or I never would have gotten out of there."

I lowered my eyes and almost had to fight back the smile that wanted to appear on my face. "So your mom's heard about me." At his nod, I asked, "What did you tell her?"

"That you're a friend and the reason my vehicle insurance rates keep going up."

I gave a shriek and started hitting him on the chest. He caught my hands to him and tipped us over on the couch so he was hovering above me, our hips pressed close together and my towel threatening to come undone. Actually, I was kind of feeling like coming undone myself.

"My sister Celia was asking about you, too, after she heard about the two of us checking out where those cars had been dropped."

"Yeah?" The grin on my face was huge.

He gave a chuckle. "Babe, it's just my family. Nobody special."

My smile widened if possible. "Yeah, but it's your family. The proof that you are actually human and not some superior alien being. That's pretty special if you ask me."

He gave a growl and started tickling my stomach. I was giggling and trying to hold his hand away from me, which was easier than it should have been since his other hand was still bracing him above my body. He was tickling me through my towel and in the midst of all my squirming, I suddenly found my towel dropping open just slightly.

Ranger stopped moving as his eyes looked down and he saw the precarious way my towel was wrapped around me. I saw his eyes darken and felt the shift in his breathing even as I felt his arousal growing against me. I felt my own chin unconsciously tip up so my lips could meet his in a kiss that never came.

Instead, Ranger pushed up so he was no longer laying on top of me, and knelt by my feet at the end of the couch. He scrubbed a hand across his face before giving me a heated look.

"Against my better judgment, I'm going to let you get dressing, instead of taking that towel off of you myself."

I momentarily debated telling him that I wanted him to take it of, that I wanted him to take off all his clothes as well, but I realized that even if I was now aware his mother and one sister knew about my existence, it didn't change the fact that Ranger didn't feel the same way about me that I felt about him. And my heart was already in too much danger for me to intentionally increase that danger by making love with him.

Ranger silently watched my internal debate, and when I sighed to myself and started to sit up, he held out a hand to assist me.

"Why don't you go get dressed, Babe?"

I nodded and went over to where my duffel lay where I rummaged around for some clothes. I heard Ranger dialing on his phone and looked up, daring to ask the question going through my head.

"Who are you calling?"

He looked up and there was a smile fighting to appear at the corners of his mouth. "Rossini's to book a reservation, and then both our parents'. We're having a family dinner tonight to formally announce our engagement."

--------------------------------------------

_Thank you to everyone who took the time to review the last chapter! It means so much to me to know what people are thinking about the story. Please let me know what you think about this latest chapter, and where the story is going!_

_-Josie_


	13. Chapter 13

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: eventually NC17, maybe?_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. ._

_A/N: I'm sorry if the chapter has a lot of grammar or spelling errors this time. My beta isn't available to read the chapters over for the next while due to some other commitments. _

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 13_

I could feel my feet unconsciously dragging as we walked into Rossini's restaurant hand-in-hand. I was dressed in another new outfit, hand-picked for me by Marcel and picked up by Ranger that afternoon. I hadn't even gone to the store myself. The entire experience had been too strange for words, with Ranger actually volunteering to go to the mall, but the results were amazing and I was currently dressed in them. The sapphire blue dress had a scooped neck in front that rested just low enough to show off the sapphire necklace Ranger had bought me. Both the necklace and the dress complemented my engagement ring beautifully. The dress had long sleeves that went down to my wrists and a flared skirt that ended just above the knee. And my back was once again bare. Ranger kept stroking a finger over the skin and causing shivers to run up my spine, and if he continued to do it throughout dinner, there was a good chance I was going to end up embarrassing myself with the sounds that his touch often elicits from me.

We were meeting everyone at the restaurant and even as we followed the host to the private room where our table was located for the evening, I was still trying to wrap my mind around everything that was going on.

"Explain to me again why we have to have a formal dinner out, with both sets of our parents, to announce our engagement? I understand that your parents didn't hear about it because they live in Newark, but couldn't you have just told them over the phone?" I was trying to keep to a whisper, but I think my voice got louder in direct relation to my panic.

Ranger gave me a look. "Would you want your parents to hear you were getting married over the phone?"

"My mom _did_ hear about it over the phone. Remember? She was the passed out woman in my parents' house yesterday," I stage whispered back. I think I saw the host biting back a smile at that one, but couldn't tell for sure since his back was to us.

Ranger gave my hand a squeeze, but didn't otherwise respond. I waited until the waiter had seated us and had walked away, leaving the doors to our private room open, before continuing, this time at a much quieter whisper. "Besides, since your parents are in Newark, couldn't you have just told them the truth?"

Ranger lifted my hand, which was still wrapped in his, and brought it to his lips. He placed a long kiss on the back of my knuckles that had my bones liquefying. But he didn't otherwise respond.

"What? You're not going to answer? You didn't answer! You have to answer! That wasn't an answer!" I said, once I was finally able to string together a somewhat coherent sentence again.

He gave one of his little half-smiles in response, but didn't otherwise speak. Not even to utter a "Babe" like he normally would.

"And I don't see how any of this is going to help the ruse anyway. I mean, we're in a private room. None of the other patrons will even be able to see us or hear us. And isn't that kind of the point? To further back up the story that we're getting married?"

He gave another small, almost cat-like smile in response and I probably would have kept after him, but my parents chose that time to walk into the restaurant. They were both dressed up, my dad in a suit and my mom in one of her good dresses that she normally reserves for special occasions at the church. They both had smiles on their face. I couldn't help smiling in response to the sight, mainly because I couldn't think of the last time they would have gone out to a nice restaurant together for a meal. My parents just didn't do that kind of thing.

I happened to look behind them and felt my jaw drop.

"You invited my sister and her clan, too?" I hissed at Ranger. I looked back at the procession and swore my jaw hit the floor. "And my grandma!"

He started to lift my hand to his mouth to give it another kiss, but I yanked it away. There was no doubt in my mind that he knew that kissing my hand would buy him enough time for my family to be seated so he wouldn't have to respond. Sadly, by the time I was done glaring at him in realization, they had arrived at the table anyway, and so I was both without an answer and without a bone-melting hand kiss. I decided that I needed to pick my battles better in the future.

Ranger stood at my family's arrival and reached across the table to shake hands with my dad. The host was directing everyone to their seats and I noticed that both Albert and my grandma were seated as far away from Ranger as possible. In fact, they were at the other end of the table entirely.

My father noticed this at the same time and turned to Ranger with a smile and an approving look on his face.

Ranger and I were sharing the head of the table, with my mom seated directly to Ranger's right, my father next to her, and then Val, her three daughters, Albert, and my grandma in successive order. That left ten more places open at the table, and I could feel my heart start to race at the idea of having to meet even that many of Ranger's family members all at once. Especially under these circumstances.

My family was going through the motions of getting seated, and the man in question must have caught some of my thoughts because he sat back down and started rubbing my back for me again. This time, however, instead of feeling sexy, it was incredibly comforting and had the effect of helping me to breathe more slowly.

"This is so nice," my mom said, and she wasn't even slurring as she did it. I could only guess that her acceptance of my "engagement" had improved since the day before.

Her comment broke the momentarily silence that had amazingly settled over the room once they were all in their chairs – and highchair, in the case of baby Lisa. "Thank you very much for organizing this, Ra..." my mom broke off, obviously uncertain what to call him.

He gave her a smile – a real smile – that had my mom blushing like a school girl. "It's Carlos, ma'am."

She gave an answering smile in return, the blush still rosy on her cheeks. "Carlos," she said gently, almost trying it out. "It was very nice of you to organize this, Carlos."

My dad gave a nod of agreement, but his attention was mainly focused on the basket of bread and assorted dipping oils that Rossini's always keeps on the table. He hadn't taken any of the bread yet, but it was easy to tell he was tempted.

He fortunately didn't have to wait long because the Manosos chose that moment to arrive. When my family goes anywhere, the arrival can best be described as them "descending" on the place. So far, the Manosos were only emphasizing how strange my family tends to be.

Or so I thought, until a little boy of about nine broke out of the single file order they had entered the room in, following the host, to emit an ear-shattering growl as he bared his fingers at us like claws.

"Benjamin," one of the women said, breaking file to catch the boy as he attempted to climb onto one of the chairs. "What did we talk about on the way here? No tigers in the restaurant."

I saw Mary Alice's face light up as she turned to Val. "Mom, if he's being a tiger, does that mean I can be a horse?"

"No!" Val's voice cracked in anxiety, but it was too late because Mary Alice was already letting out a piercing whinny.

I saw the eyes of the little boy light up. He shrugged off his mom's hand to come and stand across the table from Mary Alice. "Hi!" he said to her. "My name's Ben."  
She smiled grandly in response. "I'm Mary Alice."

Entranced, the boy sat down in the chair in front of her. "You have a great whinny. You sound just like a horse," he said.

A pink tinge appeared on her cheeks in response to that. "Thanks. You do a great tiger growl."

"But not at the dinner table," an older woman with Ranger's eyes and smile said as she came forward from the pack. "The two of you should save your strength for after dinner. Once we get outside into the parking lot, you could show all of us how well you can growl and whinny at the moon."

Both of them looked thrilled at the idea, but another girl, perhaps ten or eleven herself, stepped forward from the Manoso pack to look sternly at her grandmother. "I'm not sure either of those animals would choose to draw attention to itself by emitting a large noise that could either draw predators, or scare away its prey."

Angie nodded solemnly. "She's right. It seems highly unlikely, and more than a tad silly to suggest such a thing."

I turned to Ranger and whispered into his ear. "My God! They're clones!"

He laughed at that, and every eye in the room turned to him. Most of the faces of his family members looked completely shocked by the sound, as though they weren't used to him doing anything like laughing. But that couldn't be right, could it?

Ranger took advantage of their shock to stand once again, and the host directed everyone to their places at the table. Once they were all seated, instead of sitting down again, Ranger made the introductions.

"We're very happy you could all join us tonight." In a very un-Rangeresque move, he reached down and took my hand in his, a very public display of affection. He started with my family's side of the table and introduced them one by one. Then, after noting that his sisters Ella and Gabriele couldn't be there with us because they were both living out of state, he moved to introduce his family's side of the table.

I was seated next to his father, Alejandro, who had Ranger's mother, Maya, on his other side. Next to her was Ranger's grandmother, Rosa, followed by his sister Celia, mother to Ben the tiger, who was seated on her right, and Angie-clone daughter Deborah. Celia's husband, Bob, sat on Deborah's other side and ended the row. At the other end of the table sat Ranger's brother, Eric. And, of course, Maria.

I could feel Maria's eyes on me the entire time I was being introduced to Ranger's other family members. When he was finally done, ending it with, "And of course you know my sister, Maria," she immediately broke in to say, "Nice dress, Stephanie. New?" Her tone was as unfriendly as it had been every other time she'd spoken to me, and even her mom gave her a strange look.

Ranger answered before I could, once again taking my hand in his. This time, however, he gave my arm a little tug, pulling me up to stand beside him, and held my hand up so that the lights in the room caught the stones in my engagement ring. "I thought a new dress should accompany an announcement like this."

He turned to his parents and gave one of his almost-smiles. "I apologize that you're hearing about some of this after the Plums, but it couldn't be helped because I wanted to tell all of you in person."

Maya's eyes had caught on the ring the moment he held up my hand, and she had her hands clutched to her mouth, her eyes wide and excited in response.

Ranger turned to me and got down on one knee front of me, his hand on mine. "Stephanie, I know that you've already told me yes, but will you, here, right now, in front of both our families, do me the honor of agreeing to become my wife?"

Maya and Celia squealed in excitement. Even Deborah managed to emit a small squeal before catching herself and resuming her previous restraint. I could see my mom and Val tearing up and reaching into their purses for tissues.

My breath was caught in my lungs and I felt like I was trying to suck in air through a plastic bag. There was Ranger, down on one knee in front of me – in front of both our families! – asking me to marry him. My head was feeling light, but I wasn't sure if it was from the lack of oxygen, or from the fact that Ranger was doing something that would make ending our fake engagement even more difficult than it originally was going to be.

He was looking up at me, his eyes shining bright with something I refused to try to identify, and I couldn't help but answer the way that I really wanted to, the way I would answer if he were asking me this for real, and not just for the sake of closing a huge business deal.

"Yes."

The smile that lit up his face was bigger than I had ever seen, and I swear it isn't an exaggeration to say that it lit up the entire room. He stood back up and wrapped his arms around me, giving me a breath-stealing kiss that had my toes curling in my shoes, and my arms wrapping themselves around his neck of their own accord.

When we pulled out of the kiss, Ranger's brother, Eric, and his father had both stood up and come around the table to give Ranger and I each a warm hug. My father followed with a hug for me and a warm handshake for Ranger.

I looked over and our mothers were hugging each other tightly; Mary Alice and Ben running around the room making their respective animal noises with Angie and Deborah standing off to the side looking at them askance. Ranger's grandma Rosa was sharing a toast with Celia and her husband while my grandma made her way around the table to try to give Eric a "celebratory" hug. I thought about warning him, but figured that he was Ranger's brother and therefore it was his responsibility to warn him of such things. Even Albert was behaving himself and was bouncing baby Lisa in his arms, a huge smile on his face as he told her how her auntie Steph was going to get married to the big man in black who looks scary but actually is a very nice guy, but you still want to make sure you don't go spitting up on his shirt.

Everyone in the room was happy and celebrating. At least until I looked down at the other end of the table and saw Maria.

She hadn't moved from her seat, and was currently sitting there with her arms crossed against her chest, looking bored. I looked over at Ranger and watched as the smile he'd had on his face as he looked at the faces of his other smiling family members fade as he saw Maria's expression.

She must have caught the fact that he was looking at her because in response her expression lightened and she stood up, arms wide, to come around the table and give Ranger a hug.

"Carlos, I'm _so_ happy for you!" she said. She stepped back and took his hands in hers, still ignoring me completely, of course. "I know you and I were never very close over the years, but I hope you know that as your sister, all that I could ever want is your happiness."

Ranger smiled again in response to that, and dropped one of her hands to reach for me and bring me into the group. She responded by dropping his other hand and stepping back a bit.

"I can't wait to get to know your fiancé better!" she said, but the fact that she had just taken a step away from me made the statement seem like a huge lie. To me, anyway. Ranger's usual lie detector must have been on the fritz because he seemed pleased by what she said.

We all got back into our seats and the waiters immediately appeared to pass out menus and take our drink orders. There was not a doubt in my mind that they'd been lurking outside the doors, listening in to what was happening. If there had been anyone in the Burg who hadn't heard about my engagement to Ranger Manoso before that evening, that wouldn't be a problem by the time the night was done.

As soon as our orders were done being taken, my mom and Maya started discussing wedding plans. It was quickly agreed upon, after darting looks in Ranger's direction that is, that the wedding would be small and intimate, with only a handful of close friends and relatives in attendance; our parents and siblings, and their families, and of course Lula and Tank. It was also agreed that it would be held in Trenton so it was easier for Ranger and I to make arrangements that suited our needs. Given the looks they both shot at Ranger after discussing that, I knew it was more so Ranger's security requirements than any needs I may have that they were thinking of. Both our fathers plowed through the bread basket, occasionally shooting each other commiserating looks after rolling their eyes at their respective wife.

The meal was served and that cut off conversation for a while, but it quickly picked up again as our sisters got involved in the discussions. All except Maria, of course, but I couldn't worry about her for too long because I saw Eric suddenly jump in his chair. He looked under the table and then across it and over in my grandma's direction, to where she was currently sliding back up in her chair after apparently reaching across Albert to play some variation of footsie with Ranger's brother. I looked over at Ranger and saw him watching the events with a small smile on his face. He must have felt me looking him because he turned to me.

His eyes were warm and his expression soft as he leaned down. When his lips were a breath away from mine he whispered, "Thank you for saying yes."

I bit my lip for a moment, unsure how to take that, but it was only for a moment before Ranger closed the distance between us and took my mouth in another hot kiss that had the events and sounds around us fading from thought.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I hope everyone enjoyed the Plum-Manoso dinner. Please let me know what you thought of it, and any other thoughts you have about the story as well._

_I also hope the grammar stuff wasn't too bad. I've come to depend on having a beta a lot! Lol_

_-Josie_


	14. Chapter 14

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. _

_A/N: I'm sorry the chapter is so late this week. This was the hardest one to write yet. I hope that the content of it makes up for the lateness, though._

_Content Warning: NC17 for SMUT! _

_2nd A/N: Because I took so long to write the chapter, I didn't have time to send it off to a beta again, so please excuse all the errors!_

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 14_

Ranger pulled back from the kiss enough that I could see his face. His eyes were burning into mine and I could feel my blood heat in response. All sound faded away around us as my eyes dropped to his lips again. I could feel myself being pulled closer to him, like we were magnetized to each other. We would have kissed again had Mary Alice and Ben not chosen that moment to pop up beside us.

"Aunt Steph, are you going to keep kissing Ranger, or can we order dessert?"

I pulled away abruptly, my cheeks flaming but not as bad as when I realized the waiter had returned and was standing on the other side of Ranger, studiously studying the ceiling. I think he meant to look innocent, as though he hadn't noticed what we were doing and therefore wasn't interrupting anything, but the gesture just further emphasized the fact that we'd been caught making out in the middle of our first family dinner.

I wanted to crawl under the table and hide, but Ranger just took my hand, raised it to his lips, and placed a kiss on my wrist before turning back to the kids and saying, "Sure, we can order dessert."

I gave him a smile that I hoped looked cheeky and managed to hide how sappy I was feeling about the entire evening. "You defiling the temple with dessert tonight, Batman?"

He gave me a wolf grin. "Not here, but I could be convinced later on."

I blushed again, but for once I didn't back down from playing with Ranger. "I'll keep that in mind."

His grin widened for a moment before he turned to answer a question my mom had asked.

I looked over at Ranger's family's side of the table to find two of the members watching me intently. One of them was Maria, and she looked like she needed some dessert, if only to wash down the bad taste she apparently had in her mouth. The other was Maya, and she wore a calculating look on her face that reminded me deeply of her son.

When she saw me looking she smiled and leaned closer to me so I could hear her over the din in the room. "I'm very happy to finally meet you, Stephanie," she said conspiratorially. "When Carlos told me the stories about a young woman who would go toe-to-toe with him and managed to blow up his vehicles occasionally, I thought he may be inventing someone just to keep his mother off his back about dating and getting out."

I laughed out loud at the idea of Ranger making up a pretend girlfriend just to appease his mother and her grin widened at my appreciation of the joke before she continued.

"I was very happy when he told me he planned to ask you to marry him."

I could feel my eyes widen in shock, but I tried to keep it out of my voice. "When did he tell you this?"

She paused for a moment as she thought back. "Not long ago. Perhaps a month?" She looked me directly in the eye. "He told me there was another man in your life that was holding him back from asking."

I couldn't believe my ears, so it took me a moment to realize Maya was asking a question with her statement, and was looking for some reassurance from me.

"He's not an issue anymore." I looked over my shoulder at Ranger, who was still engaged in conversation with my mom, and had even gotten my dad to join the conversation, too. I looked back at Maya. "That other man is not part of my life anymore, and I never felt for him the things I feel for Ra ... Carlos."

Maya smiled again, relief clear in her expression. "Bueno. Now, what do you say we study this dessert menu? I think you and I should each order two just to make up for Carlos."

I laughed again and agreed before drooling over the menu options.

- - - - -

The drive back to Rangeman was by far the least pleasant part of the evening, which was saying something since I'd had to explain my past relationship status to Ranger's mom and sit through three courses with my grandmother playing footsie with Eric.

The reason the drive was so unpleasant had to do with our extra passenger, who had decided she had to accompany us in our car since we were all headed the same way. When Maria announced her plans, Maya tried to suggest she come to their house for the night since she hadn't had a lot of time to visit since Maria's return home. I threw a grateful look in Maya's direction, holding on to Ranger's arm a little tighter so she would think the look was due only to my desire to be alone with my fiance, and not a desire to be rid of her daughter. But Maria made my gratitude premature when she announced that she was too tired to visit, and just wanted to go back to Carlos's to go to bed.

That's why I got to spend the entire drive back to Rangeman with my mouth shut, because for the first ten minutes of the drive every time I spoke and tried to join the conversation, Maria would interrupt with a different thought, or cut me off to tell about her experiences with the same thing. Instead of chatting, I chose to spend the drive focusing on how hard I could press my fingernails into my palms so I wouldn't turn around my in my seat and punch her in the nose.

We finally arrived back at Rangeman, after what felt like several hours, but likely was less than a half hour. By the time we got there, there was still a little bit of feeling in my hands, but my fingers were white from the tension. Ranger had remained oblivious to the entire situation with his sister as we drove, or so I thought. But once the car was parked and Maria was climbing out, he put his hand on my arm to hold me back until her door was closed and then leaned toward me to quietly say, "We're going to have to have a talk tonight about why my sister is so hostile to you."

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel relieved or defensive at that, but before I could react in either way, Ranger leaned forward and kissed me deeply, stealing my breath from my chest. At least, that's what I think he did since my heart was pounding and my head was spinning when we pulled away. I guessed by that gesture that Ranger wasn't holding me responsible for the situation with Maria or her actions toward me.

We climbed out of the car and as the three of us waited for the elevator to come down, Ranger said to Maria, "You're going to need to pack up your stuff to take down to the fourth floor apartment. Stephanie and I are going to move back into my place."

Maria looked like she wanted to object, but one look at Ranger's expression, which forbade any disagreement, and she shut her mouth and turned back to watch the elevator doors.

When the doors finally sprung open, Lester climbed out of the elevator, dressed in casual clothes and looking like he was on his way out.

"Maria!" he said, wrapping his massive arms around the much smaller woman. I think my jaw dropped open for the umpteenth time of the evening, and Ranger, of course, caught the look.

"Lester's our cousin, Babe," he said by way of explanation.

Lester pulled out of the hug, one arm still wrapped around Maria's shoulders. "Yeah, my mom is their mom's sister."

I nodded as though I had wrapped my brain around the declaration, but I probably looked more like a bobble-head doll than anything.

Lester looked down at Maria again. "You've been back for a couple of days, right?" At her nod in the affirmative he said, "Have you seen Tank yet? I told you how he and Lula are dating, right?"

I felt my eyes narrow a little and I think I may have pierced the skin of my palms with my nails this time, they were pressing down so hard.

"Did you and Maria keep in touch while she was in Australia?" I asked Lester, my voice as sweet and relaxed as I could make it.

"Yeah, we managed to talk every couple of weeks. Isn't that right, coz?" He gave her arms a squeeze and that may have been responsible for the pinched look on her face, but I doubt it. I felt my own face crease with a real grin in response.

"That's nice. It's always nice to keep up on the news at home, isn't it?" I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep my grin to a normal, welcoming size and stop myself from cackling in laughter. Especially when my next thought occurred to me.

"Hey Lester, do you have nay plans for the evening? 'Cause Maria's going to be moving down to my apartment on the fourth floor while I move my stuff up to seven. She could probably use some help."

I kept my expression guileless and my tone open, but inside I was doing the Snoopy Dance to know that Maria hadn't found out about Tank and Lula from Ranger after all.

"Of course I can do that!" he said, turning Maria around and ushering her into the elevator. "And then we can spend the night catching up, hey coz? Just the two of us!" he said. He caught my eye over the top of her head and gave me a wink, and I couldn't stop the huge grin that appeared on my face.

Ranger and I got off at the fourth floor and he helped me to grab my stuff. It didn't take long since Ella had come in in my absence and bundled everything into my duffel bag and an extra laundry basket. I had a feeling she had been advised in advance of my intended move. I guessed it was a good thing I'd agreed to it.

Lester and a very displeased-looking Maria were standing in front of the elevator on seven when we got up there. He had her suitcases in his hands and she was standing there carrying her purse, so I guessed she wasn't unhappy due to that.

Ranger held the door for me, despite the fact he was carrying all my stuff, and took my bag to his room as I took off my shoes and put my purse on the side table.

He came out of the bedroom, but instead of coming into the living room where I was standing, he chose to lean against the frame of his door. A small smile lifted the corners of his lips.

I swallowed hard. "You wanted to talk about Maria?"

"Not now, I don't."

I swallowed again. "No?"

He made his way over to me and slid her hand down the sides of my arms. "Not my most pressing concern right now."

The feel of his skin against mine, even in that innocent gesture, was making my whole body heat up. "What is?" I asked.

He moved in closer and trailed his lips down the side of my neck. I could feel the vibrations of his words against my skin as he spoke. "Celebrating my engagement with my fiancé."

My eyes closed at those words. After what had happened at dinner, I didn't know where we stood. I didn't know if Ranger was trying to tell me he might be willing to try for a relationship, or if all of that had just been part of an extremely elaborate ruse. But at that moment, with him touching me, I didn't care. I wanted to feel his skin against mine, and his heart racing in response to my touch, the way mine always does for him. I knew that I was going to take a chance and give him my body, in addition to giving him my heart.

As if sensing my trepidation, Ranger steadied his hands on my shoulders and looked deeply into my eyes. "We've never had problems communicating, Babe," he said, brushing a stray lock of hair away from my face. "Tell me what you're thinking."

It was a simple request, but not an easy one. Most of the thoughts going through my head at this precise moment were mental images of things I'd only seen in the Kama Sutra…things I would rather show than tell.

Ranger exhaled slowly and refocused his eyes on me, and I could tell he wasn't talking only about sex. There was something more pressing on his mind. More pressing, even, than the tight bulge in his pants, if that were at all possible.

Ranger had been closing the gap between us. "Talk to me, Babe," he said, and as he uttered those last words, he captured my mouth in kiss that reminded me of how it felt to truly be in love. Before I knew it, I felt something warm and hot slicking down my cheek.

"Shit," I said, looking away from him. His hand under my chin forced me to look him in the eye and the tenderness and concern and, yes, even love that I saw there took my breath away. I was trying to hold back my heart, but at that moment the only thing I cared about was making love with him and taking advantage of this time together, and when we were together it made it so hard to keep my heart uninvolved.

I looked back at him, allowing him to see everything I was feeling, just as he had for me, and saw his pupils darken to black before our lips crashed together. My hands were bunched in his shirt, gripping it tightly, as much for something to keep me upright as an expression of the passion I was feeling for him as I pulled his body even closer to mine. Our lips fed on each other; short kisses speaking of repressed desire, mixed with long, hot, soul-bearing ones that reaffirmed the rightness of the two of us together.

My hands released their grip on his shirt and skimmed over his abs before traveling further down his body. I stroked him through his pants and he broke away from the kiss as his hands fastened around my wrists to pull them away from him.

"God, Babe. It's been too long since we were together. I'm not going to last if you do that."

I was panting for breath as I tried to speak. "But what about since we were last..."

His lips met mine in a briefer, but no less passionate kiss. "There's no one but you, Babe. It's always been you."

I wrapped my arms around his neck, running my fingers through his hair as I pulled his lips down to mine. I felt his tongue trace my lips and opened to it, my tongue dueling with his as he crushed my body to his and then ran his hands down over my back to my ass to finally grip the backs of my thighs and lift me. My legs automatically wrapped around his hips and I tightened my grip in his hair.

He carried me to his bedroom, kissing me the entire way and not stopping until his legs bumped the edge of his bed. He lay me down and looked at me for a long moment, long enough for me to start feeling self-conscious, before muttering quietly, "You are so damn beautiful, and I have missed you so much."

I flushed with pleasure at the compliment and the admittance, and beckoned him down to me. He lied down on top of me, his arms bracing him on either side to keep most of his weight from crushing me as we began to kiss again. This time, though, I wanted to feel his skin beneath my hands, and taste every part of him with my tongue. It had been a long time since we'd been together and I planned on re-familiarizing myself with every part of his body before the night was over because there was a very real chance I wouldn't have this opportunity again.

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and began unbuttoning his shirt, reveling in the feel of his bare chest as it became accessible to my hands. Ranger had one hand sliding up the outside of my thigh to where my stocking ending. He started pulling out of our kiss again and I raised my head up on my neck to follow his departure as far as I could before finally breaking the kiss. He sat there, watching me again with dark eyes. His pectorals were visible and his chest rose and fell in a faster rhythm than normal, a sign that I was affecting him as much as he affected me.

He took my leg with one hand, raising it and bending it at the knee so he could reach my foot. He removed the shoe and slid his hands slowly up my calf and over my thigh, where he grasped the edge of the stocking, and then reversed his path, rolling the stocking down as he went. He repeated the motions on my other leg, but when the second stocking was finally off, instead of releasing the leg he placed a hot, open-mouthed kiss on the back of my knee. His lips didn't stop there, but made their way up the inside of my thigh. He raised the hem of my dress as he went, pushing it up my thighs to bare me to his eyes.

He placed another hot, open-mouthed kiss on top of my panties right over ground zero and I think my eyes rolled back in my head as fireworks went off all around us and I exploded in pleasure.

When I was aware of my surroundings again, I noticed that Ranger had stripped himself of his shirt, belt, socks and shoes, and was wearing only his pants, which he had already unzipped.

"We need to catch you up to me," he said, helping me to lift my dress over my head.

"I think I'm already one ahead of you," I replied, the pleasure of my orgasm still flushing my cheeks and making it obvious what I was referring to.

He smiled and finished lifting my dress off me, his smile widening as he saw I wasn't wearing a bra. He bent his head to take one nipple in his mouth as his hand found the other and began caressing it. I reached out for his zipper, brushing against his length in the process, and he groaned.

"Babe, I told you, I'm not going to last if you keep doing that."

"Then don't last. I want you. Right now. I need to feel you in me." I leaned forward and kissed him with everything I was feeling. "Please."

With a catlike growl, he kissed me again, pushing me back onto the bed. His hands slid up the sides of my legs to the waistband of my panties, which he then slid off. I felt him fumbling with his own zipper, his hand brushing mine aside when I tried to assist him, and then he was pulling away to strip off his pants and was suddenly kneeling in front of me in all his glory.

He laid down on top of me so we were pressed chest to chest and groin to groin, before rolling onto his back and taking me with him. His hands on my waist steadied me atop him before he leaned forward to take one of my breasts in his mouth again. He shifted his hips and I could feel him at my opening.

He suddenly stopped. "Steph, I'm not wearing..."

I placed a finger against his lips, hushing him. "I'm on the pill. It will be fine," I said. I made a move to help position him better, and he stilled me again.

"What about other partners?" he wanted to know.

I kissed him deeply before answering. "You're the only one I've ever been with that I didn't use something," I said before shifting myself just enough to feel him begin to slip inside me.

He tipped his head back and moaned at the sensation, baring his throat to me. I leaned forward and started kissing my way up and down, alternating with little bites as I moved my hips in time to his. He still had his hands on my waist, but they weren't necessary to help me keep time with him. Just like our other time together, we found and kept perfect rhythm with each other, our movements complementing each other and feeding the heat that existed between us.

With the part of my brain that wasn't overwhelmed by pleasure, I felt one of his hands slide its way up my back and into my hair to pull my lips closer to his as the other reached between us to stroke my nub. I sped up the pace of my movements, keeping time with the way his hand was stroking me.

His eyes locked on mine, black as the night. "I'm not playing, Babe. You need to know that. This is more than just a charade or a ruse for me."

I looked him directly in the eyes as I spoke. "It's more than that for me, too," I breathed, my voice barely more than a whisper.

His lips found mine again, the kiss hard and demanding, his tongue asking for entrance which I immediately granted. His fingers began stroking my little nub even harder as we sped up the movements of our bodies even more, and the combination of sensations threw me over the edge.

"Oh my God! Ranger!" I screamed, light bulbs flashing in my head as my orgasm hit me.

I heard Ranger groan my name back to me as the tightening of my muscles forced him over the edge into his own orgasm. Long minutes later, after both of us had finally stopped feeling the after-effects of our mutual pleasure, Ranger lifted me off his lap and slid us down in the bed together. He wrapped an arm around my waist, pulling my body close to his. The closeness of his body with mine combined with the fact I was feeling more satisfied than I ever had before, and made me completely exhausted.

My voice was groggy but pleasure-filled when I spoke. "Sweet dreams, Ranger," I said, leaning down to give the forearm he had under my neck a kiss.

I felt him place a kiss on the back of my neck, and another on my hair. "Sweet dreams, Babe," he said before pulling my body even closer to his as I drifted off to sleep.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
_This was my first attempt at smut, so please please please let me know how I did! It was really grueling to write!_

_And as always, please let me know your thoughts, good or bad, about the story. It's the only way I can get any better at this writing stuff!_

_-Josie_


	15. Chapter 15

_Disclaimer: All the characters belong to the wonderful Janet Evanovich. I am just borrowing._

_Spoilers: Possibly all the books up to Twelve Sharp_

_Content Warning: NC17_

_This is my first try at fanfic so please be kind. _

_Thanks to all the ladies of TBC for their support! You babes are the best!!_

_Stephanie's New Deal Chapter 15_

I woke the next morning feeling happier and more at peace than I could ever remember experiencing before. I think it may have had something to do with the fact that Ranger's arm was still wrapped around my waste, holding me close to him, just the way it had been when we fell asleep together the night before. I raised my head enough to see the alarm clock and revised that to "four hours before" when I saw it was just after seven.

Ranger's arm tightened around my waist and he pulled me back to him, placing a kiss on my bare shoulder. "Go back to sleep, babe. We can run tomorrow instead."  
I smiled. Ranger humor. "I'm surprised you're still in bed and not up already," I said, enjoying the feel of his skin against mine. I had noticed a long time ago that he naturally had a higher body temperature than most people and sleeping with him next to me meant that I didn't even need the blanket in order to stay toasty warm.

He rolled me over onto my back and put his arms on either side of my head, leaning down to kiss me long and hard before he responded. "I wanted to wake up and spend the morning with you."

I blinked up at him and tried to swallow back the question that immediately came to my mind, but it slipped out anyway. "You did?" I blurted out.

He gave a little frown and tilted his head as he looked down at me. Even a frown couldn't stop him from being absolutely gorgeous. "What did you think I meant last night?" he asked.

I bit my bottom lip. I knew exactly what he was referring to, specifically his comment in the heat of the moment the night before that what was going on between us wasn't a charade or ruse. I knew that was what he was referring to, but I wasn't sure how to react to it. I didn't know if he meant the emotion we had shared in the moment was what was real, because Ranger did love me, I knew that. It might be in his own way, with no ring attached, and no hope for a traditional future, but he did love me. So I didn't know if he meant that the emotions between us the night before were real and true, or if he meant the engagement itself was. A huge piece of me wanted to believe he meant the engagement, but given everything he had said to me in the past, I didn't know what to think. And I wasn't sure my heart was up to holding out hope for the latter only to find out that nothing had changed for him about his stance on commitment.

Ranger somehow knew the questions that were whirling around in my mind, although I guessed I shouldn't have been surprised given his ability to read my mind all the time He clasped my chin with one of his hands and tilted it up so I had no choice but to look him in the eye.

"What did you think I meant last night?" he asked again.

I bit down harder on my lip, hard enough to cause me a small jolt of pain when I almost pierced the skin and that caused me to release my grip on it. The pain may have been what distracted me so that I told him the truth about what I was thinking.

My eyelids floated closed as I answered. "I don't know."

My eyes were still closed so I didn't see him lean down so that his face was beside mine, but I did feel his hot breath on my ear when he spoke quietly into it. "I hope you were serious when you said yes in the restaurant last night, babe, because I have every intention of marrying you."

My eyes flew open and I was treated to the sight of Ranger smiling a full 1000 watter down at me. The sun was beaming in through the bedroom window and it was creating a halo-effect behind him that further emphasized his beauty. The words he had just said made him seem even more beautiful to me at that moment, too.

"You were serious when you proposed last night in the restaurant?" I exclaimed. If possible his smile got even wider.

He leaned down in a push up and kissed me before answering. "I told you I wasn't playing."

I coughed out a laugh. "We were in the middle of sex at the time. I wasn't sure what you were referring to." What I didn't add was the fact that I was also too afraid to hope he was serious.

He brought his head down so we were nose to nose before he said, "I want to marry you, babe. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to be together with you every day of every year, and I'm willing to put a ring on your finger to prove my commitment to you."

He pulled back and looked at me deeply, watching me for a moment, his eyes serious. "I need to know, babe, if you weren't serious last night when you said you would marry me. I need to know if ..."

I leaned up so I could catch his lips with my own, stopping his words with my kiss. When we pulled apart my voice was breathy from the lack of oxygen. "I was serious, too." I looked him directly in the eye. "I meant it when I said yes to your proposal last night, even before I knew you were serious when you proposed. There's no one else I want to spend my life with, Ranger. Just you."

He kissed me again, so deeply I could feel it down to my toes, and then rolled us over so I was on top of him, his arms wrapped around my back, his hands skimming across my skin, kissing me the entire time. When he finally broke the kiss he was as breathless as me.

"We're engaged," I said, awe and wonder clear in my voice.

He gave a soft chuckle and pulled my head down for another kiss. "Now that we have that firmly established, can I please spend the rest of the morning celebrating and making love with my fiancé?" he asked, pretending frustration and impatience.

I cupped his cheeks with my hands and looked him deeply in the eye again.

"You can have anything you want," I told him, and we spent the next several hours doing just what he had asked for.

- - - - -

When I woke again it was much later in the day, but still morning if the bright sunshine streaming into the room was any indication. Ranger's side of the bed was cold to the touch, but I could hear him rattling around in the kitchen, making cooking noises, and I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face at the sound. He was not only still in the apartment, but he was also cooking something. As long as it wasn't one of those green smoothies, I was calling the morning a huge success.

I gave a big stretch, feeling tightness in parts of my body that I normally wasn't aware of that could only be due to my athleticism the night before, and felt something on my left hand get tangled in my hair as I brought my hand back down as I finished. I finally managed to get my hand free, untangling my hair from around my engagement ring. I held my hand out in front of my face as I admired the sight of it, twinkling at me in the sunlight. The dark sapphires and bright, clear diamonds together reminded me of Ranger. He was able to move in both the dark as well as the light, always working to make things better. He made my entire life brighter, too. It was a sappy thought, and one I would probably never share with him for fear of getting laughed at, but looking at the ring reminded me of him and it made me love the ring even more.

I was having a hard time believing everything that had happened ... everything that had changed, really ... in only the past few days. In fact, I was feeling absolutely giddy with excitement over it all, and I couldn't help bouncing – literally – out of bed as I went to go to the bathroom to clean up, a huge smile on my face, only to find Ranger leaning against the door jamb smiling at me.

I stopped in mid-bounce, completely embarrassed. "You weren't supposed to see that," I said, flushing bright red, probably from head to toe since I was still naked. I didn't go so far as to cover myself up with my hands, but I knew my posture changed and showed my discomfort at standing there in front of him so vulnerable.

He came across the room to me and used his hands on my shoulders to make me stand up tall and proud in front of him. "I wasn't supposed to see you looking happy?" he asked, raising one eyebrow.

"No, of course that's not what I meant," I said, still feeling embarrassed.

He ran his hands down my arms and pulled me into his embrace. "I wasn't supposed to see you celebrating?" he asked, looking down at me and still being difficult.

I glared at him in response, but had to fight to hold on to the expression when I saw a smile fighting at the corners of his lips.

"Oh, you meant that I wasn't supposed to see you bouncing across the bed," he said, comprehension suddenly appearing on his face as if he hadn't known that the entire time. He leaned close to whisper in my ear. "I have to tell you, babe, I kind of like the idea of you doing a whole lot of naked bouncing on our bed."

I squealed in both laughter and outrage and he ducked the punch I aimed at his shoulder, laughing out loud himself.

He caught me to him again and gave me a hard peck on the lips. "It's almost noon so I'm making us something to eat. It's going to be about twenty minutes so do you want to wash up before or after you eat?"

A man who knew how to love me properly, let me use his orgasmic shower gel, _and_ fed me. _How lucky could one woman get?_ I asked myself before responding to his question. "I'm going to get cleaned up, but I'll be quick."

He gave me another kiss and let me go. I turned back just before getting into the bathroom and found him still standing where I'd left him, his eyes watching my every move. I blushed again, but this time it was more a flush of pleasure than anything else, and rushed through my usual shower routine.

We spent breakfast, which was more of a brunch really given how late in the morning it was, talking companionably. Or more accurately, Ranger asked me about my plans for the day and I spent most of the meal talking to him about those while he nodded at appropriate places and kept smiling at me. It felt good to be able to make Ranger smile that easily. And I didn't even have to get myself covered in food or punch some jerk in the nose in order to do it!

Ranger got a call just as we were finishing up and told the caller he would be down right away so I assumed it was someone calling from the control room. He snapped his phone closed and pushing his plate away from him on the table.

"Don't worry about cleaning up, babe. Ella will be up here in a bit anyway." He came over to my chair and leaned down so he was looking me directly in the eye. "Take one of the cars today when you go out."

"I can call for a ride," I objected.

He quieted me with a kiss that could have easily escalated and taken us back to the bedroom instead of on to what we were supposed to be doing.

"Take one of the vehicles," he said when he finally pulled away again. His voice was husky and reminded me of the voice he used when we were in bed together. I caught my bottom lip between my teeth as I remembered and he groaned quietly in response.

"I have to go or Tank is going to come up here to make sure I'm still alive. Take the Cayenne, I don't need it today and I'll know you're safe if you're in it."

I nodded my agreement, but I think I was actually nodding my agreement at the look in his eye that spoke of other things he wanted to be doing ... things that involved the two of us with a whole lot fewer clothes and maybe a bed, although even the floor would be okay.

Ranger's eyes darkened and he leaned down and kissed me senseless. When he finally pulled away he said, "I'll be following up later tonight on whatever it was you were just thinking about, so make sure you get a nap this afternoon," and left the apartment to go deal with whatever emergency was brewing.

I tried hard to wipe the silly grin his kiss had given me off my face, but it was stuck there and there was no hope of changing that so I finished getting dressed for the day and decided to stop by the bond's office to visit with Connie and Lula.

When the elevator doors opened down in the garage I realized that I didn't know if I had switched my wallet over to my regular purse. I stepped out of the elevator and off to the side, ready to start rooting through the purse when I realized I could hear someone else talking. I stopped pawing around in the bag to listen and realized the speaker was Maria.

"I know there's not a lot of time left," I heard her say to whoever she was talking to. I didn't hear an answering voice so I guessed that she was on her cell phone.

I looked around in the garage a bit but couldn't see her, so I figured she was hiding around the corner from the elevator in the little niche there. I backed up against the wall and strained to hear what else she might be saying. If I remained where I was, I would have to pay close attention so she wouldn't hang up and catch me lurking right by the elevator, or she might think I was intentionally trying to eavesdrop on her. Which, okay, I was, but after all the pain she had put me through in the last few days, I thought it was only fair.

"I know exactly what I'm supposed to be doing," she said, her voice showing the anger she was feeling.

She paused to listen to the other speaker again, and then said, "It's not going to be an issue. I told you, I know my brother."

I physically took at step back further into the wall, at that comment. Her brother? I knew there were two brothers she could potentially be speaking about, but my instincts told me that the brother in question was Ranger, not Eric. It made me listen even more closely, but I didn't chance to peek around the corner to see her in case she was facing my direction.

"Don't you take that tone with me!" she practically yelled. She must have realized how loud it sounded in the otherwise empty garage because when she spoke again it was much quieter and I had to strain a bit to hear her when she spoke next.

"I'll do my job, just like you hired me to." Her voice took on a sexually cajoling tone to it, "I've never let you down, have I?"

She giggled at whatever the other person said in response, and it sounded like she was starting to wind down on her call so I decided now was a good time to get into the SUV I was driving for the day and duck down out of sight.

I speed-walked as quickly as I could while still making no noise in the direction of the Cayenne, but then realized that based on where she was standing, she'd be able to see me get inside the SUV. I didn't want her to have even a suspicion that I had overheard her on the phone, so I knew I couldn't get inside of it. But I hadn't brought any of the other vehicles' keys down with me, either, so I couldn't get into a different vehicle, either.

I heard her make some good-bye noises and knew I had to get out of sight. Her car, easily identifiable by the fact that it was the only red vehicle in the entire garage, was parked close to the garage doors and on the eastern wall of the garage, the elevator being on the north wall. I decided my only chance to hide was to duck down behind one of the SUVs parked on the west wall, so I hightailed it over to them and had just ducked out of sight when I heard the tapping of her heels as she came out from her hiding place. I stayed down and out of sight, but listened to her cross the garage floor in the direction I knew her car to be. I followed the sound of her progress, ducking down behind the hood of the SUV when I believed she would be crossing behind it, and then moved to the other side of the vehicle so I would again be out of sight.

I could hear as she unlocked the door to the car, having locked up but not having put on the vehicle's alarm in the well-secured building, and listened to the sound of her opening and then closing the door as she got inside.

I stayed in my hiding place until I heard her not only start the car, but actually drive out of the garage, not leaving my crouched position until I heard the sound of the garage door closing after her again. When I heard that, I finally raised my head enough to take a look at the direction in which she turned.

Left.

I stood up and was immediately running across the garage to the Cayenne, my keys already out and at the ready. I beeped the door open and jammed the key into the ignition. My tires squealed a little as I backed out of the parking spot, and I was already pressing the button for the door even as I put the Cayenne into drive.

I turned out onto the street and gunned the engine as I kept my eyes peeled for the sight of Maria's little red car. It was easy to see it in traffic and I slowed down once I had gotten to within about a block of her, only then remembering about the video cameras that covered the garage and the fact that the Merry Men could see my every move in the garage while I had been snooping. No wonder Maria had hidden around the corner.

Lucky for me, I was friends with most of the men in the control room.

I dialed the number for it and thanked my lucky stars when Hal answered.

"Hal, I need a favor," I told him.

"Does this have anything to do with you skulking around the corner from where Ranger's sister was hiding, and then hiding behind a row of SUVs?" he asked.

I couldn't help but smile. "It might. Can you do me a favor and lose that footage?"

"I can't do that, Ms Plum." I help the sigh of disappointment that escaped my lips. "But I may be able to avoid mentioning having seen any of it unless specifically asked about it at a later date."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "That will work. Thanks, Hal!"

He laughed quietly. "You can make it up to me by telling me sometime about what's going on."

"Hal..." I hesitated. I suspected Maria was up to something, but I didn't know that I'd ever be able to tell Hal about it. Ranger's confidence was my first priority, and if whatever Maria was doing was bad, I doubted he would want his men to know about it.

"Or you could at least promise not to stun me again if I get put on bodyguard duty for you in the future," he said, once I had been quiet for too long.

"Deal!"

I hung up and put all my focus back on keeping the one block distance between me and Maria's little red car, which was still traveling in front of me.

_Change of plans, Steph,_ I thought to myself. It looked like I was going to be spending the day following my future sister-in-law.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_I'm so sorry this chapter took so long! My muse deserted me after the last chapter and it took forever to get this one written in a way that I could keep the story on track! I hope it lived up to expectations after the last chapter, and I promise I'll have the next one out next week just as promised (maybe even sooner, if my muse has me really inspired!)._

_I really appreciate all the feedback, whether it's good or bad. Feedback is the only way I'll know if I'm getting any better as a writer!_

_Thank you so much for staying with me through this learning curve!_

_-Josie_


End file.
